Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I am very grateful the Ceann Comhairle allowed me to raise the exceedingly important issue of the N2 road, which runs from Dublin to Derry.

In this jurisdiction it runs through Dublin, Meath, Louth and Monaghan and then on towards Derry. It takes a good deal of traffic. Two issues arise. One relates to road safety. I believe the issues are common to all these counties. The other issue relates to the efficiency of the road as a national route. This particularly relates to my constituency of Meath East.

The issue of safety is the first and foremost priority. Six people have died on this road since the new year. It is an extremely dangerous road. The road is well known for accidents in Louth and Monaghan. Frankly, accidents could happen on any stretch of this road because of the nature of the road. It is extraordinarily busy. In parts there are houses on it, while elsewhere there are bus stops that are unlit. There should be a full safety review of the road. In some cases people have died unnecessarily because of road safety issues. There have been other accidents that have not hit the headlines. There have been several occasions when the N2 has been closed for reasons that have not resulted in fatal accidents. This really needs to be looked at. It is incumbent on the Minister and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to look at this closely.

When I refer to road safety on the N2, I cannot omit the Slane bypass, which is also relevant for the efficiency of the road. I urge the Minister to get the Slane bypass on the agenda and to ensure it is built. There has been some progress, there is no doubt about that, but we are five years on from a negative planning decision on the Slane bypass and we are only starting to get back on track in this regard. Five years is almost a lifetime in political terms. We need to make urgent progress.

The safety issues at Slane are, in reality, far more severe than the rest of the N2 in terms of the danger and the risk to road users and pedestrians. I cross the road in Slane at the traffic lights on a regular basis - there are many traffic lights in Slane. I am afraid of my life every time I cross the road, even using the pedestrian crossing properly - I certainly would not take a chance elsewhere. It is the same for all the residents of Slane and for anyone driving through the town.

The efficiency of the N2 as a national route is another issue. This road south of Slane is becoming completely inefficient and is not serving its purported function as a national route. There are major traffic delays on the road every morning, especially from the Kilmoon Cross area towards Primatestown on to Ashbourne and on to the Ashbourne bypass, which is a fabulous tranche of infrastructure that has solved the problem at Ashbourne. Commuters are delayed on this stretch unnecessarily because the road is simply not fit for purpose and because of traffic lights installed at Primatestown. They were put in place for essential safety reasons but I believe other solutions could be explored that would marry the obvious priority of safety with the ability of road users actually to use the road in a functional way.

We face difficulties not only for commuters in terms of the efficiency of the road but also for residents and road users on side roads. The Garristown area is between Duleek and Ashbourne. The road there is coming under pressure, especially between Ashbourne and Curragha and Kilmoon Cross. That road is coming under tremendous pressure because of people avoiding the N2 on account of its inefficiency. This, in turn, is putting pressure not only on local residents but on the council budget as well. It is a serious threat to road safety on those roads.

I look forward to the Minster's response on the N2 road.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and for making a particularly strong case on the grounds of safety and efficiency. I was struck by the fact that Deputy Byrne said six people have died. I was unable to work out the period to which he referred.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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That is since 1 January.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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That is utterly unacceptable and I take the Deputy's point that it is a spectacularly tragic figure.

I took a commencement matter in the Seanad concerning the N2 on 7 February. I am happy to reiterate the points I made at that debate.

As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding relating to the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects, such as the N2, is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter in the first instance for TIl in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act.

The Government's capital investment plan, Building on Recovery - Infrastructure and Capital Investment, provides the strategic and financial framework for the TII national roads programme for the period from 2016 to 2022. As Minister, I have to work within the capital budgets included in the plan and TIl, in turn, has to prioritise works on the basis of the funding available to it.

TII allocates funding specifically for safety works based on its analysis of the network, including the N2. This year TIl has allocated approximately €17 million for such works. Under its HD15 programme, safety works are based on an analysis of accident density across the network and those sections of the network with considerably higher than average accident densities are selected for analysis. Sections of road which are amenable to engineering solutions are prioritised for treatment. In addition, TIl operates a HD17 programme based on road safety inspection reports. These reports indicate which issues, for example signing, lining or safety barriers, need to be addressed on different sections of road and programmes are drawn up to deal with the priority issues.

Good pavements also contribute to road safety and TII has allocated approximately €50 million for pavements in 2017. In the context of the TII programmes, road pavement overlay and safety schemes were completed on the N2 in 2016, including sections of the route at Balrenny to Knockmooney in County Meath and Emyvale village in County Monaghan. Safety works at Blakestown Cross in County Louth have recently been completed. Within the funding available to the organisation, I understand TII is also hoping to progress minor road improvement schemes on the N2 during the period of the capital plan. These schemes involve the realignment or widening of the existing single carriageway road and include the N2 Monaghan to Emyvale improvement phase 3 scheme, where land acquisition and finalisation of tender documentation is ongoing.

TIl has also advised that Monaghan County Council appointed consultants last year to review the safety aspects of the existing N2 between Ardee and Monaghan. This report identified short and long-term measures that could be implemented along the route. The findings of this review are currently being considered by Monaghan County Council. I imagine they should now be considered as a matter of urgency.

As regards major schemes, the proposed N2 Slane bypass has been included in the capital plan among those schemes planned to commence during the plan period. Funding totalling €1.2 million has been provided by TIl in 2017 to prepare a new design for the scheme.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I am keen to see a whole-of-road approach in respect of the N2. The whole road should be taken together in terms of what reports and studies are undertaken. This has been the problem. We have seen piecemeal works that are very good in themselves but we are not looking at the overall problem.

I do not mean to be parochial but Blakestown Cross is used by people from all three counties, that is to say, drivers from Monaghan, Meath and Louth, where the cross is located. Shortly after the works were finished at the cross two ladies were killed near where the works took place. When those works were done, I was so grateful. I thought to myself that it was so safe. Often, I come in the direction from Drumconrath, Meath Hill and Kingscourt in Deputy Smith's constituency - I imagine he is familiar with that cross as well. It is such an improvement. However, the point is that further down the road, within sight of those works, two ladies lost their lives. Unfortunately, this is going to continue unless we take whole-of-road approach and review the whole thing, including the examination of safety issues.

I urge the Minister to get TII to examine the matter and to examine the efficiency issues, especially in County Meath. The fact is that traffic is building up seriously on this road. It is a small road. It is not built for the volume of traffic that passes along it. There must be some way of making small improvements, especially at Primatestown Cross in County Meath, to protect people and to allow them to cross. The lights should be changed and some other system put in place, possibly a roundabout, to allow traffic to move. This is a major problem for my constituents and for the constituents of Deputy Smith who use the road.

I thank the Minister for outlining what is being done. I am not arguing or fighting with the Minster. I am outlining the facts as I see them. I urge the Minister to take a handle on this road and to treat it as one in all three counties, or four counties if we include Dublin, that it goes through, to ensure it is safe and to ensure that it works as a national road.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Undoubtedly, the Deputy has made a good case for the road concerned and I am aware that it runs through his constituency. I have addressed that already. It is a matter for TII, although it can feature in the mid-term capital review. Obviously, the Deputy will make a submission and I will make certain recommendations to it as well. He must understand, and I am not in any sense denigrating what he or anybody else has said, that the competing pressures on the roads, even in cases where compelling arguments exist, make it very difficult to allocate funds between them. As far as I am concerned, the case the Deputy made is very good in terms of the road being necessary for all sorts of improvements but the case for safety is a priority. According to what he said, the safety case was quite bad before this year but if there have been six fatalities in the past month or so-----

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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There have been two since the work at Blakestown Cross was done.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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-----that must be taken as a priority. I consider road safety more important in some respects than the condition of the roads. If there is a case to be made where there is evidence of fatalities on a road and there are identifiable black spots, it is something we will have to consider a top priority when we are examining the allocation of money for roads. I will give the road in question consideration in that light. I am aware of other roads around the country which have black spots that also deserve priority. We are talking about human life here, as against anything else, and obviously it must be top of the list.