Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Kilcornan is a small village located on the N69, a national secondary route, in rural County Limerick. The N69 is a coastal road which runs from Limerick to Tralee via Foynes. The issue concerns traffi-calming measures that are proposed for the route. Concerns relating to those measures were originally raised by the community on 8 September 2015. This road has been a danger point for many years and that fact has been brought to the attention of successive Ministers. I proposed that speed-limit measures be extended in 2004, which seems like a lifetime ago. However, my suggestion has been constantly refused, first by the National Roads Authority, the NRA, and then by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII.

Kilcornan stretches from the church to the community centre for about a mile and a half on the N69. The fact that it is located along this expanse of the road is the biggest challenge. The focal point of the proposal relates to the community hub, which comprises the school, the GAA pitch and the Ger McDonnell Park AstroTurf pitch. All of these are accessed by people from neighbouring villages and towns - such as Kildimo, Pallaskenry and Adare - with which Kilcornan has joined up to form an under-age soccer team. There is, as a result, a glut of traffic coming onto the road, particularly between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. On the Askeaton side, there is a blind bend and people take their lives into their hands when they come out onto the road. There is no hard shoulder and no space for cars to move from one side to another. Neither is there any room to put traffic islands in place.

A meeting took place on 8 September 2015 and proposals have been submitted to TII. There has been correspondence between the council and the TII on a proposal that has been shown to the community. Every time it goes back to TII, however, further design measures and updates are sought. The community is becoming frustrated as to what will be the outcome. I was a local councillor in September 2015 and we were unanimous in wanting to see traffic-calming measures put in place in Kilcornan. However, the communication back and forth between TII and Limerick City and County Council suggests that the can is being kicked down the road. Can the Minister give us a timeline for when this project will be completed, what funding is required and from where that funding might come?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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As 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 road projects are a matter for TII 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 on the Exchequer. As a result of the national financial position, there were very large reductions in the Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure after the financial crisis. For this reason, the focus has had to be on maintenance and renewal rather than new improvement projects in recent years, and I envisage that the emphasis on maintaining assets together with safety measures will continue into the next capital plan period. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is, therefore, a matter for TII in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act.

TII allocates funding specifically for safety works based on its analysis of the network and has allocated €17 million for such works this year. Each year, TII carries out a collision analysis of the entire national road network to identify locations that have a high concentration of collisions. Following completion of the analysis, local authorities are requested by TII to carry out reviews of safety at each of the identified locations and to submit feasibility reports, including details of proposed remedial measures to improve road safety at those locations.

The absence of a site from the network safety ranking locations identified as part of this collision analysis process does not preclude a road authority from submitting a feasibility study for safety improvement works elsewhere. In this context, it is open to local authorities to submit proposals for road safety measures at schools for consideration.

My understanding from TII is that following contact between Limerick City and County Council and the regional road safety engineer about traffic calming measures at Kilcornan, the council initiated preparation of a report on proposed measures for consideration by TII. I know the Deputy has raised this issue in parliamentary questions on a regular basis over the past year and I understand that TII has provided him with updates in response. In October, I understand TII indicated that the design of the proposed traffic calming measures at Kilcornan were expected to be finalised shortly. I have now been advised by TII that it is anticipated that funding will be provided in 2018 for traffic calming measures between the two junctions in Kilcornan, which will also involve a reduction in the speed limit. I am glad to be able to inform the Deputy of the progress being made.

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I very much welcome the Minister's reply and I thank him for it, particularly for the funding that will be made available for the project in 2018. It is good news for the people of Kilcornan and the general area of the N69. I wish to highlight the contrast between Kilcornan and other nearby areas. Ballybrown national school had 12 lights at its location and 18 lights were allocated. Ferrybridge on the N69 had five, and Brick Lodge in Clarina, which is much smaller, has four. The Applegreen service station in Coolanoran on the N21 has ten lights. Kilcornan, as I have highlighted, has one in a particular location. Underlining all of this, I very much welcome the Minister's response and thank him for it. The people of Kilcornan will be pleased with the outcome from the Minister and the Department that funding will be made available for traffic calming measures between the two junctions in Kilcornan, namely, the Curraghchase junction and the Cowpark junction, and they will welcome the reduced speed limit. We have been looking for this for years. I went into the council in 2004 looking for this, so I am glad the Minister has given me the news today and I sincerely thank him for his response.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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It is an unusual pleasure to be able to respond so positively in the House to an issue of this sort. It should be said that a lot of it is due to the persistence of Deputy Neville in continually bringing this up and bringing it to the attention of TII, the local county council and everybody else not just as a Topical Issue, but also in parliamentary questions. I welcome the fact this is happening, and it is fair to recognise not just the persistence of Deputy Neville, which was extraordinarily welcome and successful, but also the fact that TII does respond to safety issues, particularly where there is an issue where life is in danger and where there has been a series of collisions. As the Deputy knows, TII will look at it as a top priority, and in this case it has been a successful crusade on behalf of Deputy Neville, for which we must all be very grateful.