David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this matter and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for being here to respond to this issue regarding the N25 between Midleton and Carrigtwohill.

This particular stretch of road is one of the busiest in the country. There are 30,000 vehicle movements per day on it. It is also extremely dangerous and the local authority is worried about the danger posed by this road. There are medians on it, grade junctions and residences going straight onto the road. It is bumper-to-bumper traffic at 100 km/h and 30,000 vehicles per day. That is the first point: the issue of safety and lives being put at risk. There have been a number of accidents on that road already.

The second point I want to make on why this road should be upgraded is that there is a very large industrial site on the roadway at Ballyadam that has been lying idle for the past 12 years. Amgen was to go in there 12 years ago. That did not happen. It has been lying idle for 12 years now and it is fully serviced. It is one of the few sites in the Munster region of this scale and size, but it cannot be used because the road network is totally inadequate. If you exit the site, you have to go down to Midleton to come back to Carrigtwohill. The head of IDA Ireland, Mr. Martin Shanahan, was in with us last week at the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and he agreed with me this is a major problem. Therefore, there are jobs now going begging because of this road as well.

The third reason is we all know there is a housing crisis. There is a plan that has been worked on for quite a number of years and is quite advanced to build 5,000 houses in the area. That is now at risk. The Minister of State can imagine that number of houses. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has objected to planning applications that have been lodged because the road is inadequate.

We have a situation where we have a very unsafe road, we have a very large industrial site lying idle for 12 years, and we now have thousands of houses being put at risk and being objected to by TII because the Department is refusing to fund the road.

Consultants were appointed to carry out feasibility studies on this on 21 January 2020. I think Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan was the mayor at the time. A lot of work has been done. There has been €1.3 million spent on this feasibility study. That is now at risk. That is gone. By the time this comes back again, all that work might have to start again. There have been two sets of public consultations. They were about to announce the preferred route and start on the compulsory purchase order, CPO, and they were told there was no more money and to stop everything.

A total of €100 million has been expended already on the industrial site I spoke about. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has spent €4.5 million on the housing. All this is now at risk and there has been no explanation. I wrote to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, about a month ago. I did not get an acknowledgement or a response, which I am very disappointed about.

This is extremely serious for our area. There are lives, safety, jobs and housing at risk. I would like to know why this is happening. The Minister of State has come in to address this matter and I thank him for being here. The local authority officials are completely flummoxed because they put a pile of work into this over the past four years. The county councillors are worried about it and I am very concerned about life and limb and safety on this road. There have been a number of fatal accidents on it already. Given the speed of the traffic, the way the road junctions are arranged is lethal. There will be a pile-up some evening and there will be many people killed.

This work is well advanced. A great deal of money has been spent. That money will now go to waste unless the Minister changes his mind, engages on this and allows the next phase to go ahead, which is to announce the preferred route and start the CPO process. That will not cost a whole lot of money. Let us move the project on and, eventually, maybe in four or five years' time, we might see some work there. My worry now is nothing might happen for another ten years.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this important matter on the urgent need for the upgrade of the N25 national road between Midleton and Carrigtwohill, County Cork. It is not the first time the Deputy has raised it. He has been raising it consistently with the Minister.

The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the national development plan.

In the new national development plan launched in October 2021, approximately €5.1 billion is earmarked for new national road projects to 2030. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility throughout the country as well as compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects that are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. The N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton project is included in the list of projects to be evaluated for potential prioritisation during the period covered by the national development plan.

Due to the fact the greater portion of the national development plan funding for road projects becomes available in the second half of the decade, there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects this year. However, most national road projects in the national development plan will continue to be progressed in 2022. Projects such as the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton that do not have the required funding to progress this year remain part of projects for consideration in the national development plan and will be considered for funding next year.

Technical advisers have completed their assessment of the route options for the N25 project and have determined the preferred solution. Improvements to crossings over this very busy section of the N25, to enhance active travel, are being considered as part of the scheme. Given funding constraints as referred to earlier, TII was unable to provide an allocation for this project in 2022. Progression and potential prioritisation of the project to design and development of the business case for decision gate 1 under the public spending code will therefore not be possible this year. The delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for next year and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. TII has written to me to tell me, "Due to limited funding available ... and the many competing demands for that funding, we are unable to provide a grant allocation to enable the project to advance in the current year", and further details on the grant allocation process can be found in the road allocation grants, which I have looked at. This came out of the blue at the end of the year, that funding was not available. The local authority expected the funding to be made available. That did not happen.

I stress the urgency of the safety aspects of this road. If you travel on this road some evenings and some mornings, which are extremely busy, you take your life in your hands. There are cars travelling at 100 km/h bumper to bumper and there are other cars trying to get in and they cannot. The slip roads are too short. There are median junctions where people are trying to cross and there are people trying to come out of their houses onto this road. It is very dangerous.

There is no short-term solution here but I am very concerned that this is now being put on the long finger. It is said we may be considered for funding next year. That is not good enough. On top of that, we also have a site sitting there for 12 years, with which IDA Ireland states it cannot do anything, and we have thousands of houses at risk, with TII itself objecting to the housing going ahead. One half of the Administration does not seem to be talking to the other. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is promoting housing and giving local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, funding to the tune of €4.5 million, and people put in planning applications in good faith thinking this road project will happen to enable them to get onto the roadway. We also have a railway at the other end, which is very welcome. There will be a great deal of money put into it to electrify it, which is very welcome, and we have cycleways, which also might be at risk because of this.

I ask the Minister, if he is listening out there somewhere, to have another look at this and to let the project advance to the next stage. It does not cost that much to allow it to go to the next stage, but to delay it now and to stop it creates a concern, and the local authority is concerned as well, that this might be stopped indefinitely with no progress in sight. I thank the Minister of State for listening to me.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for raising the important issue of the funding of the N25, to upgrade it between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. In particular, the Deputy raises the important concerns around safety, employment and housing. I will certainly bring the Deputy's concerns to the Minister's attention.

As I mentioned, the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton project remains on the list of projects included in the national development plan. Approximately, €616 million of Exchequer capital funds have been provided to TII for national roads in 2022. In line with the national development plan and Government policy, TII is allocating national road funding to local authorities for 2022 in a manner that seeks to achieve the following key outcomes: protection and renewal of the existing national road network; progression of major projects in or near construction; progression of major projects that are pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline; and prioritisation of any remaining funds for projects that provide for local bypasses and compact growth in Ireland's towns and villages.