Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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97. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when funding will be made available for the A5; his most recent engagement with his counterpart in Northern Ireland on progressing the A5; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7794/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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This is a question on the current status of the A5, the Minister's most recent engagements with his Northern Ireland counterpart, Danny Kennedy, and an update on the funding commitment.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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At the most recent North-South Ministerial Council transport sectoral meeting on 28 November 2013, both the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive reaffirmed their commitment to the A5 scheme and I confirmed the Government's funding commitment of £25 million per annum in 2015 and 2016. We have made no commitments for any project beyond 2016 in any part of the island. At the meeting, the council noted that following the court judicial review ruling on 8 April 2013, work is progressing on an appropriate assessment process, which will be the subject of a public consultation exercise that is expected to take place this spring. I and my Northern counterparts have agreed that once the environmental reviews are completed and the position with regard to the project programme has been clarified, updated programme milestones will need to be prepared for agreement by the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, taking account of financial commitments that are in place.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister elaborate on the likely timeline for the completion of that planning process? Could the Minister outline his understanding of where the Northern Ireland Administration is regarding its funding for this project? Before the last election and the planning problems that have arisen there was a commitment from both Governments to co-fund this project. There have been planning issues since than and a change in the funding commitment from the Irish Government, moving from a co-funding commitment to what the Minister just outlined - that is, €25 million in 2015 and again in 2016. However, the Northern Ireland Government indicated that it would continue with the project and do two particular stretches of it. There was time-specific funding from Westminster to the Northern Ireland Executive flowing from the funding commitment given in the St. Andrews Agreement. Planning issues have delayed the spending of that money this year.

Will the Minister update us on the position regarding that funding at the Northern Ireland level? Is it his understanding that the commitment remains, or is there an agreement in place to ensure the money that has been specifically allocated will remain available?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I cannot give timelines and I cannot make a commitment or give a response on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive. It will take however long it takes to get planning permission for the road. I cannot speak on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive when it comes to its funding commitments. However, as far as the Government is concerned, we have renewed and reiterated our commitment to contribute £25 million in 2015 and the same again in 2016. To date, we have already committed €22 million for a road that has not yet been started, which is a little frustrating.

I hope planning permission is given for this road. I would hate to see us allocate £25 million in 2015 and for that not to be drawn down because of the lack of planning permission. We cannot really make allocations or commitments until the road has planning permission. If this was a house, a factory or a school, we would not be making financial commitments until planning permission was granted. The road does not have planning permission at this stage and if the project does get planning permission, it may look very different from the project we are talking about now.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister elaborate on the funding commitment post-2016? There was clarity on the funding commitment in the past; the project was to be co-funded. The Government is now three years into its term and next year the first £25 million it has committed to the project is due to be allocated. Hopefully the planning permission is in place for that. The Minister has indicated that there will be a further £25 million for the following year as well. We are only two years away from the end of that period. Will the Minister give us an update on the Government's commitment after that date in terms of what it will give towards the project?

Also, I urge the Minister to engage closely with the Northern Ireland Executive, because we are very much dependent on it to progress this project with the specific funding it had allocated towards it. It is key that the Minister be part of that. I know this is primarily a responsibility for the Executive, but what will happen the ring-fenced funding that was supposed to be spent on the road this year but was not spent due to the planning issues? This funding is critical to seeing the project built. The £50 million we have committed will not be sufficient to build the road, even with the level of funding the Northern Ireland Executive has. Will the Minister elaborate on our Government's long term commitment funding-wise?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As is the case with every major capital project, we have made no commitments for 2017, 2018 or 2019 or beyond. This is true in the case of the DART underground, the metro north, the bus rapid transit project and just about every other road project around the country. The only commitments we have made are up to 2016, except where a contract has already been signed or in the case of an advanced project. The project in question here is a proposed project and does not even have planning permission. We do not know what the project will look like when it finally gets permission. For any project like this, in any part of the island, we have not yet made commitments for 2017 or 2018. We will do that as part of the preparation of a new national development plan to replace the existing plan, which expires in 2016, and we will need to start work on that quite soon.