Dáil debates

Thursday, 15 February 2018

4:05 pm

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister may be aware that the week before last I tabled a parliamentary question on this issue and received a reply from his Department. The reply stated:

The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority. The Department has not received any proposal from Cork City Council in respect of a proposed upgrade of Tinker's cross junction in Cork city.

I was quite happy with the reply and passed it onto my constituency colleague on the ground who is a member of Cork City Council. He raised it with the city council at the roads meeting last Monday. The reply he received from the city council on this proposed upgrade was that the preliminary design, Part 8 planning, detailed design and construction tender processes are complete, the contractor has been selected and the project awaits funding approval.

The Minister will see that we have two differing answers. Cork City Council states that it is shovel-ready for this €2.5 million upgrade of Tinkers Cross and awaiting funding from the Department while the Department's reply states that it has not received an application from the city council. The reason I therefore gave notice of this topical issue is to see if I can get some answers from the Minister. Will he clarify whether the information I received the week before last is correct?

The Minister may not be familiar with the junction itself but it is right outside a community centre and next to an estate entrance. It is used several times a day by residents from the estate who wish to cross the main road over to the shops and the community facilities. It is an extremely busy junction that is used daily by articulated lorries coming from Tivoli to get to the Blackpool area. The upgrade is vital but the difficulty is that no one seems to know at what stage the project is because we are getting different answers from the Department and Cork City Council.

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I will address that issue in a second because it is one which can be resolved very quickly, but I will address the substantive issue first. I was not aware of the information the Deputy has just provided when preparing for this subject but I will address it at the end.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads together with traffic management in Cork city is the statutory responsibility of Cork City Council. Works on those roads are funded from the council’s own resources, supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the council. Before the financial crisis, local authorities could regularly apply for grants for specific improvement works for the strengthening, widening or realignment of rural roads where the proposed scheme cost generally less than €5 million. However, the extent of the cutbacks in grant funding during the crisis meant this grant scheme had to be curtailed after 2013 because expenditure on maintenance and renewal was falling well short of what was required to maintain adequately the regional and local road network.

The capital plan for 2016 to 2021 provides for the gradual build-up in funding for the road network but it will take some years yet to reach the level required for the adequate maintenance and renewal of the network. For this reason, there is limited scope at present for funding projects under the specific grant programme. Any projects proposed by local authorities for consideration under this grant programme are assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis. All projects put forward by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the public spending code and my Department’s capital appraisal framework, and it is important for local authorities to prioritise projects within their overall area of responsibility with these requirements in mind. Cork City Council has not, however, sought funding for the Tinkers Cross junction improvement scheme under this grant heading.

I understand that there was an original design for the Tinkers Cross scheme funded by the National Transport Authority. I also understand that, on foot of discussions in 2017, the National Transport Authority and Cork City Council agreed to prioritise funding for the nearby Ballyvolane to city centre, or Ballyhooley Road, element of the northern ring road corridor in 2018 and a contractor is on-site with these works. There is, therefore, no funding allocation at present for Tinkers Cross in 2018.

I am puzzled by what the Deputy says and do not doubt it for a second. It seems to me that there is a complete lack of contact somewhere between the local authority and my Department. The Deputy said that there appears to be no contact or response even though the application has been made. I think that is what the Deputy is saying. If that is the case, I apologise. However, I do not know if it is. I will immediately make inquiries with my Department about it. If the Deputy gives me the name and the point of contact after the debate, I will ensure that contact is made in the next 24 hours. Would that be alright?

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is perfect. I appreciate it. I do not know if contact has been made with the Department either. It could also be that the information from Cork City Council is wrong. I am not for one moment saying the Department is wrong in its answer to my parliamentary question. When the Minister gave the answer last week, it kind of fitted in with everything that I was hearing on the ground, which was that the city council had not made an application and that there was an application for a wider project which was underway. This appears to have been confirmed in the Minister's reply. Therefore, when I spoke to the local councillors on the ground, they followed it up because we were under the impression that we were awaiting funding. When I told them the Department was saying no application had been made for funding, they went back to the city council. The answer from Cork City Council dates from last Monday and it is very clear, however. It states that the contract has been selected, that the tender process is complete and that it is awaiting Government funding for the project. I would appreciate it if the Minister were to clarify the situation. I will provide him with the details of the contact person in Cork City Council and he can pass those on to the departmental officials to follow up on the matter.

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. I guess this is a misunderstanding because the officials in my Department in that particular area are super efficient. I have never come across anything like this happening or there being a lack of response to something so important. My guess is that there is a mismatch somewhere which we will be able to sort out between ourselves one way or the other.