Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter, although I had thought the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, might do so. This issue has been raised repeatedly by me and other Tipperary Deputies. It relates to the Tipperary town bypass, which was first promised 40 years ago. Anybody who knows the town can see how it is absolutely choked up with heavy traffic throughout the town. All the Governments of the past 40 years have promised the bypass for Tipperary town, and Independent Deputies go into the town every now and again and make claims and so on. Any Member of this House who has any responsibility for the area of transport or any regard for the plight of Tipperary town or any rural town will tell you the towns are overwhelmed by traffic, and they will be aware of Tipperary's desperate need to move this project forward. We were being told that from Limerick to Waterford, it is all being done and last year, there was a bit of a clawback on the Cahir-to-Waterford section. Public representatives in all these counties - Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny - are in favour of the N24 going ahead but the Minister did a U-turn on it and the plans were suspended.

We are asking for the same thing to happen here. Tipperary County Council looked for €3.25 million to advance the bypass project and was told this week that all it will get is €1 million. This is a matter of heartbreak for people in Tipperary town. They have been on the streets previously, and anyone who knows the town will know they are going to go back onto the streets because this is another kick in the teeth. After all the promises they have been made through the years and when they thought they were getting somewhere this time around, they are now getting only one third of the funding that Tipperary County Council looked for. As I said, the fact the council was looking for €3.25 million and was told it would get only €1 million has infuriated everybody on the council I have spoken to before or since because it means the progress of the section of the road from Cahir to Limerick Junction will not go ahead for years and will fall behind the section from Cahir to Waterford. Tipperary County Council responded to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, after the initial request asking it to review and revise upwards the funding, and it has now written to the Ministers for Transport and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to request that the money it initially sought be made available. The shortfall in funding here, while significant in stand-alone terms, is far higher than the funding shortfall experienced by Kilkenny County Council, which requested €2.6 million and was allocated €2 million in the 2023 grant. Why is one section of the road being fully funded while another is being given only one third of the funding?

We know there are delays all the time and the Minister of State will probably tell us road works throughout the country are looking for funding, which we appreciate, but promises have been made to Tipperary town for 40 years and it has been left behind the whole time. I am aware the Minister of State is not the decision-maker here but he has been chosen to represent the Minister, so I will ask him the following question. What is the reasoning behind the decision? We want a clear commitment that the funding sought will be made available and we want the Minister to meet the political representatives in whose communities this project is vital. My purpose in raising this matter is to move it forward such that the Minister will meet us, give us reasons for the delay and progress the project.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy noted, the Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in respect of the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII, under the Roads Acts 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. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.

The N24 Cahir-to-Limerick Junction scheme is included in the national development plan. TII is working to progress this scheme through planning, design and construction. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national road projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. 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 already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. Given the greater portion of this funding will become available in the second half of the decade, there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects this year. However, many national road projects in the NDP will continue to be progressed in 2023, including the N24 project.

A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of about €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade. Approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds has been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. These allocations were announced on 16 February 2023.

Having regard to the funding constraint I outlined, it was not possible to provide an allocation to all new national roads projects in the NDP for 2023. However, the majority of projects have been allocated funding, including the N24 Cahir-to-Limerick Junction scheme, which has been allocated €1 million. As with all national roads projects in the NDP, the delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for 2024 and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that not every project can get funding, but we are talking about small money to progress this project. The people of Tipperary and its surrounds have been struggling for too long. As I said, there have been 40 years of successive Governments telling them they will get a bypass. This is all for the sake of an additional €2.25 million, a pittance in the current climate. As a public representative, I cannot allow this to continue. Every time I go into Tipperary town, I am faced with it. Likewise, Deputy Cahill will know about the issue, as will Fianna Fáil councillors in the town. For 40 years, the people of Tipperary town have been strung along and told time and again that they will get the bypass. The longer it is delayed and the longer they do not get the money to progress the national roads project, the worse it will be. Given the kind of money we are talking about, surely to God in this day and age progress can be matched between the Cahir-to-Limerick Junction project and that from Cahir to Waterford. Why is there a need for some of the project to be cut but another part of it not to be?

As I said, all the counties - Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny, are behind getting this done. I have travelled through a lot of this country but I cannot think of a town that is as choked up with heavy traffic as Tipperary town. Anybody who has done any travelling and gone through Tipperary town will know how things are there. We are talking about national roads over another ten-year period but this cannot be allowed to continue. I may be cynical, but every time progress seems about to be made on Tipperary town, something happens in this House, such as a vote, and various political groups get funding for their areas and something else in County Tipperary gets cut. I have a question. When a deal was being done recently with the Regional Group to get a vote to pass in the House, was that part of the reason funding for the project in Tipperary is being cut and spent somewhere else? Perhaps I am cynical, but there are a lot of cynical people out there after 40 years of looking at this project being pushed back. A lot of people who were told about it 40 years ago are not around any more. Let us get it moving. As I said, it is small money.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am absolutely certain no deal that was done resulted in a loss for Tipperary town. In fairness to the Regional Group at the time, it came up with solutions that married with solutions that Government backbenchers were putting forward as well in respect of housing, rather than just giving out and objecting all the time.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There was no one objecting. We have been looking for this for 40 years.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All of the good solutions on housing that the Deputy mentioned there were all voted against by the Opposition. I refer to the measures that we are now trying to get in place, such as the tenant in situscheme.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We are talking about the N24, not the tenant in situscheme.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In line with the national development plan, NDP, and Government policy, the Minister has allocated national roads funding for 2023 in a manner which seeks to achieve the following key outcomes - the protection and renewal of the existing national road network; progressing major projects in or near construction; progressing major projects which are pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline; and prioritising any remaining funds for major projects which are to provide local bypasses and compact growth in Ireland's towns and villages.

As I said in my previous statement, the majority of projects in the NDP have been allocated funding, including the N24 - Cahir to Limerick Junction. The delivery of this will be kept under review and it is in the national development plan.