Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Transport, who has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding relating to the national roads programme.

Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040 and the NDP. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects that are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others.

The funding for new roads was phased across the period of the NDP, with €1.1 billion allocated for the national roads from 2021 to 2025 and €4 billion allocated between 2026 and 2030. As the greater portion of this funding becomes available in the second half of the decade, this meant that TII was unable to provide funding over the past three years for the N25 Waterford to Glenmore scheme.

However, approximately €502 million of Exchequer capital funds have been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2025.

The N25 Waterford-to-Glenmore project would link the N25 New Ross bypass and the N25 Waterford city bypass and is expected to consist of approximately 9.4 km of high-quality road, completing the upgrade of the N25 between New Ross and Waterford. As regards the status of the N25 Waterford-to-Glenmore project, the preferred transport route was selected in 2021. As the scheme did not receive an allocation for 2025, it cannot progress to the design and environmental evaluation phase at this time and remains at the end of the route options selection phase. As with all projects in the current NDP, however, the delivery programme for this project will be kept under review in future years and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope to TII.

The Minister understands from TII that three high-collision sites have been identified in recent years on this section of the N25. One site at Curraghmore was improved as part of a pavement scheme in 2020 and saw the introduction of central hatching and ghost island junctions; another at Gaulstown involved roadside boulders being removed; and at Ballynamona a fixed speed camera is expected to go live in the next few weeks. In recent years, substantial lengths of timber post and rail fence along this section of the N25 have been replaced with tension mesh fence, making the roadside boundary more forgiving.

The signage at the end of the southbound climbing lane near Glenmore is under review by Kilkenny County Council. A scheme to improve this has been designed and is expected to be implemented in the coming months.

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