Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire, Teachta Ross. Is é seo Seachtain na Gaeilge, so úsáidfidh mé cúpla focal Gaeilge. I am glad the Minister is in the Chamber as I highlight the urgent need to upgrade the N5 national primary route from Dublin to Westport, particularly between the villages of Termonbarry and Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon. Along this stretch, numerous accidents have occurred. There has been much loss of life over the past 30 years.

Many of my constituents and many of the people along the route have been lobbying me very strongly on this issue for a long period of time. Crossing the River Shannon, one enters the village of Termonbarry. It is a village that has grown hugely in recent years. The volume of traffic coming through that village is highly significant. The difficulty is that much of that traffic is travelling at very high speed. It is a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and others. Let us move about eight miles up the road to a place called Scramogue Cross. It is a well-known landmark. Along this route, there have been many accidents. There is an accident almost weekly, and that is not an exaggeration. It is a staggered crossroads.

Coming along the N5, one meets a major regional road. It takes traffic coming from the north. That traffic comes through Ballinamore, Carrick-on-Shannon, Roosky and then crosses the N5 and goes down towards Athlone and the south if it is going that way. The junction is very busy. There have been numerous accidents in this location. It would not be an exaggeration to say that many people are scared to death driving through Scramogue Cross. It is a real death trap and urgent attention is needed to address this situation. There are also major visibility problems in the village of Frenchpark. Motorists take their lives in their hands on a daily basis trying to negotiate dangerous junctions on the main N5, while there are accident black spots near Tulsk village. There is a school located in that village as well.

I have frequently called on the Taoiseach to include the upgrading of the N4 between Mullingar right up to Donegal through Longford and Sligo into a motorway, as well as upgrading the N5 between Scramogue and Ballaghaderreen, in the capital programme. It is essential that both of those roads are brought into the capital programme for 2017 as they are vital infrastructural links to the west. It is vital to upgrade those routes as they have been severely neglected. Apart from the Galway road, there is no motorway to most of the west or north west, where in excess of 500,000 people live.

I call for a clear commitment that the N4 and N5 be included in the capital programme for 2017. The glaring omission of funding from the N4 and N5 from the much-lauded rural revitalisation plan was only one of the problems with the plan. We see this with regard developing rural Ireland. We must have both of those roads made safe in the first instance and then developed properly. I appeal to the Minister to deal first with the short-term issues of safety and, in the long term, to use all of his influence to get both the N5 and the N4 into the capital programme of 2017.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for the opportunity to address this important and very interesting matter.

As the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding of the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

Ireland has just under 100,000 km of road in its network and the maintenance and improvement of national, regional and local roads places a substantial financial burden on local authorities and the Exchequer. As a result of the national financial position, there have been very large reductions in Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure over the past number of years. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter, in the first instance, for TII in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act.

As Minister, I have to work within the capital budgets included in the plan and TII, in turn, must prioritise works on the basis of the funding available to it. TII does allocate funding specifically for safety works based on its analysis of the network. This year, it 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, TII 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. It should be noted that good pavements also contribute to road safety and TIl has allocated approximately €50 million for pavements in 2017.

I understand that TII has recently completed a collision cluster analysis on the most recent three years of An Garda Síochána collision data and has identified four sites on the N5 in Roscommon for further examination - two east of Tulsk and two east of Frenchpark. Roscommon County Council will examine these sites over the coming months with a view to identifying whether engineering solutions will improve safety at these locations.

Regarding Scramoge Cross, a preliminary examination of the collision statistics for the N5 at this location does not indicate a collision cluster there. However, it may be the case that the road authority concerned, Roscommon County Council, has more up to date information available that indicates that road safety improvement measures may be warranted. In order for TIl to consider any such proposals fully, the road authority is required to carry out an analysis of the collision history at the location in consultation with the local gardaí. If a collision cluster is identified at the location that could benefit from an engineering solution, the road authority should design an appropriate scheme to deal with the safety issues identified, carry out an economic appraisal of the proposal, fully cost the scheme, prepare a feasibility report on the scheme and prioritise the scheme in regard to other works being proposed at this time by Roscommon County Council. Roscommon County Council is proposing an N5 Ballaghaderreen-Scramoge road improvement scheme which I understand extends from the eastern end of the Ballaghaderreen bypass to Scramoge, a distance of some 33 km. Given the limited funding envelope available under the plan and the primary focus on maintenance and renewal of the network rather than new projects, this scheme is not currently included as part of the plan. TIl has, however, provided an allocation of €700,000 to Roscommon County Council for the scheme this year to enable the planning process to progress. I am aware that Roscommon County Council has recently completed the business case, environmental impact statement and compulsory purchase order documentation for the proposed N5 Ballaghaderreen-Scramoge road project.

All major capital projects are subject to the project appraisal requirements in the public spending code and my Department’s common appraisal framework for transport projects as well as the An Bord Pleanála planning consent process. In this context, a cost-benefit analysis for all schemes costing over €20 million is required as part of the business case for the project. In line with the project appraisal requirements, each cost-benefit analysis needs to assessed by the economic and financial evaluation unit in my Department and then reviewed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The cost-benefit analysis for the Ballaghderreen-Scramoge scheme has been submitted to my Department for evaluation. If the cost-benefit analysis were to be found compliant with project appraisal guidance, a separate decision would be needed on the business case, which takes account of the availability of funding for the project. It is not possible at this point to indicate what the outcome of the project assessment process will be.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is some positive news and some not so good news. I welcome the fact that some safety works are to be carried out east of Tulsk and Frenchpark. I have no doubt that this work needs to be done.

The Minister seems to be well apprised on the route. I welcome that. He and his officials have done their work on it. I must state again, however, that the problem starts in Termonbarry village just as one crosses the River Shannon from Longford into Roscommon. That area has grown considerably in recent years. It is a very busy village. In general, the traffic obeys the rules but a significant amount of traffic, particularly lorries, is flying through the village. People are very afraid of serious accidents, even death. There have been some accidents there.

Let me move on to Scramoge Cross, that well known landmark. It has to be on the Garda records that there are weekly incidents there. Traffic coming off the regional roads creates issues as it crosses over the N5. There have been people injured. As the Minister was speaking, I could recall at least 20 people who lost their lives along that route over 20 years. The number is probably higher. It is a significant loss of life.

While I welcome what the Minister said in regard to some of the works to be carried out, I ask him and his officials — I will take this up with Roscommon County Council — to re-examine Scramoge Cross and Tulsk village, a very fast-growing village with a school in the middle. Issues also arise outside Strokestown.

Flashing lights have been erected along the route where there are very acute bends. I am sure the Minister is aware of them. The lights indicate to motorists that they should slow down or drive go mall. They are very cheap to install, costing approximately €11,000. If we could agree to install more of these lights in the short term, it would be beneficial. Where they have been installed, the number of accidents has been reduced. They definitely make motorists more aware. I am sure the Acting Chairman, Deputy Bernard Durkan, has seen these lights operating. In the interest of safety and saving lives, I ask the Minister to re-examine the route in question. I invite him to visit some day with me. It will take him an hour to go along the stretch of road I am talking about. He will get there from Dublin in an hour and a half and will be back in Dublin in another hour and a half. He should come and enjoy the nice, warm atmosphere in Scramoge in County Roscommon and have a look at the route himself.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for his invitation. I am terrified of accepting invitations in this House because it causes turmoil. People expect me to keep to those commitments. At some stage, I will visit but I ask the Deputy not to hold me to a date. I would be delighted to see the area in question.

The Deputy is kicking an open door when he talks to me about safety. I hope he will take that as genuine. Road safety is the top priority in my Department in the transport area because of the awful loss of lives. The Deputy will be as aware of the figures as I am and that the number of fatalities rose last year and is rising again this year. This is utterly and totally unacceptable. I have asked TII specifically to identify what it calls collision clusters. The fact that some of the blackspots mentioned by the Deputy have not featured at the top of the lists should be taken as encouraging but I gather there are some up to date statistics that we should look at. I promise the Deputy that if the up to date statistics do justify the treatment to which the criteria already apply, I will ask the authorities to regard this as a priority. It seems that, among the difficulties, safety is the one that really matters.

When one is talking about areas such as Tulsk or other blackspots, the answer is that I will see that they receive the attention they merit. We look forward to new figures. If the Deputy can produce them himself before the local authorities and they are authentic, I will certainly act upon them as soon as I possibly can. His commitment is genuine because I want to see the figures come down. I want to see lives being saved; it is as simple as that. It is imperative. I cannot give a commitment on whether the requirements concerning the N5 and N4 will be included in the capital programme but they will certainly be considered. I can assure the Deputy of that.