Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me raise this issue this evening.

This may seem a complicated, convoluted and extensive issue, but in fact it is not. It is simple. The problems of traffic congestion in Maynooth that exist at present are severe and affect not only the people of Maynooth and Kilcock but also those further afield who arrive in a traffic snarl-up on the motorway every day. There are also ongoing realignment works on the roads within the town itself. I accept that there will be disruption during reconstruction of any description - one cannot have an omelette without breaking eggs - but the extent of such disruption could be alleviated to some extent with a little attention.

In particular, one realignment of a road has taken the most serious turn that I have ever seen. I do not know who designed it, but the footpath goes in a particular direction and, all of sudden, veers out into the middle of the carriageway for I know not what purpose. Unless the draftsman at the time had some particular obsession with that, somebody should go back and have a look at it again. It is the most ridiculous design I have seen.

There is a simple resolution in the sense that €14.5 million was awarded by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government three years ago to provide for the strategic infrastructure needed for the housing shortage in the area and that is available and ready. The housing development has taken off, so to speak, and is going well. It is now about ready for the two stages of that particular proposal to be activated. I ask that that would be done at the earliest possible date.

Some works have been activated. There is a noise abatement surface proposed for the motorway. I hope that is done in conjunction with whatever upgrading works will be done and that the road will not be uprooted once again.

I would especially emphasise that the capacity of the motorway is long past its maximum and there needs to be something done as a matter of urgency. We hear every morning there is either a crash or a hold-up and the traffic is backed up for four or five miles. There starts the next part of the problem, which is that the traffic coming from Enfield and Mullingar leaves the motorway at Kilcock and returns to the old road, heading towards Maynooth, jamming up the traffic in Maynooth that is already in a bad situation. There is traffic sprayed out in all directions from there, so to speak, creating serious problems and the use of the minor roads.

The responsibility is divided between two Ministers, the Ministers for Transport, Tourism and Sport and Housing, Planning and Local Government, who are not here, but to whom the Minister of State will bring the message with a view to ensuring that the works required are taken in hand immediately and any possibility of doing something in the short term is seized on straight away.

The motorway has worked well up to now but it is now incapable of dealing with the volume of traffic. It will remain a problem, just the same as the problem on the N7-N9 for the past ten years. My philosophy in these matters is that if we deal with them in the beginning, we will not have to moan about them in the future. I would say that is an issue that needs to be dealt with quickly. There are two interchanges that are also needed, one of which is a second interchange off the motorway which will greatly resolve the traffic problems and is proposed and provided for already by the local authority.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I am very much surrounded by Kildare Deputies in the House today.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State is surrounded by better people. Deputy Durkan, who represents Maynooth, is a Mayo man.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Living in Maynooth.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Representatives of Kildare county. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and providing the opportunity to discuss the Maynooth project under the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy.

As the Deputy will be aware, in 2016, the Government approved 30 LIHAF projects that then received final approval in late 2017 and early 2018. Summary details of these projects and the projected housing to be delivered were made available in March 2018 and are published on the Rebuilding Ireland website at .

LIHAF is designed to activate housing supply by putting in place enabling public infrastructure by unlocking lands to facilitate large-scale development on key sites. Infrastructure being funded under LIHAF includes access roads, distributor roads, link roads, road improvements, roundabouts, bridges and parks. The 30 infrastructure projects are expected to provide infrastructure for the delivery thereafter of 20,000 housing units. Approximately 5,600 or 28% of these will be social or affordable, another 5,600 will have a cost reduction on open market prices, and the remainder will be sold at market rates. A total of 1,489 housing units have been delivered to date under LIHAF, and this is expected to rise to more than 6,000 by the end of 2020.

LIHAF funding of €14.5 million has been made to support a roads project in Maynooth - 75% grant funding of €10.88 million matched by 25% local authority funding. The project comprises the construction of a 1.5 km section of roadway linking the Dublin Road and the Straffan Road in Maynooth, improvement works at the junction of the Straffan, Leixlip and Celbridge roads, a new railway bridge and a new canal bridge. The road will also include a cycleway, footpaths on both sides of the road and a number of roundabouts along the route of the road, which will help to control traffic speed. This project allows for significant development to take place in Maynooth.

The project is currently at route selection stage and was approved by the council in July 2019. The consultants are working with Kildare County Council and have produced a route selection report. Compulsory purchase order, CPO, documentation is being progressed in parallel by Kildare County Council and is expected to be published by early December 2019. Kildare County Council has confirmed to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government that the infrastructure works will be ready to go to tender in the first quarter of 2020, subject to approval by the Department, with an award of tender in the second quarter of 2020. Construction duration is estimated at 18 months, which will see the infrastructure completed by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Regarding the housing to be delivered, a strategic housing development application for LIHAF housing is due to be lodged by the developer at the end of November 2019. Subject to planning approval, the developer expects to be on site by mid-2020 to coincide with the commencement of the infrastructure works.

Under LIHAF, 800 additional homes will be delivered in Maynooth, including 720 cost reduced units over the span of the project with a cost reduction of €18,000 per cost reduced unit.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply, which deals in detail with the issues and will, I hope, result in an early date for the project. If I were to ask for one thing to happen, it is that the activation plans be pushed ahead as quickly as possible because time is of the essence. During the downturn in the economy, we did not have traffic problems anywhere but we have them now. We may be the victims of our own success but whatever the reasons, they are positive.

In terms of population, Maynooth is not the biggest town in the country by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are now almost 17,000 students in Maynooth University. We also have two schools off the Moyglare Road, each with a student population of 1,000. We have a number of other schools on the Celbridge Road. We have schools all over and a Gaelcholáiste is promised in the near future. All of that serves to concentrate the traffic in a particular area. The issue can be resolved and the Minister of State referred to the solutions. I thank previous Ministers for their investment in the town, which will stand it in good stead for the population in the future. I hope, however, that we do not have a long, drawn out process, similar to what we had with the N7 and the N9 projects, which went on for years. The area from Kilcock to the M50 has excessive traffic and requires urgent attention, as do the roads in Maynooth to which the Minister of State referred. The solutions are visible but we need them implemented as soon as possible.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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LIHAF is primarily aimed at the activation of sites for housing development that may not otherwise be viable and is not in and of itself a traffic management measure. This LIHAF project will provide the essential infrastructure to realise the full potential of the lands in the south-east quadrant of Maynooth for housing provision and assist in alleviating traffic congestion in the town. While I acknowledge that there may be other traffic congestion issues due to the current road and construction works in the area, traffic management in Maynooth is the responsibility, as the Deputy knows, of Kildare County Council. As such, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.

In respect of the N4 Maynooth to Leixlip project, which is not part of the LIHAF-supported project, I understand that this is a section of the transport network to be progressed through pre-appraisal and early planning and prioritised for delivery under the National Development Plan 2018-2027. Kildare County Council has advised that the project is in the early stages of phase 1, concept and feasibility, and is in the process of procuring technical advisers to support the delivery of the project through phases 1 to 4.

As I indicated, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government has already engaged with Kildare County Council and will continue to do so in order to progress this important infrastructural project in Maynooth. This Government is also committed to delivering a thriving, modern housing system and we are making steady progress to activate housing delivery nationally through the activation of sites under the local infrastructure housing activation fund.