Dáil debates
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Road Projects
11:40 pm
David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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At this late hour, I am so tired I am not sure if I can actually debate but I am glad the Minister of State is here. I am disappointed the Minister for Transport could not be here. The Office of the Ceann Comhairle should look at why Ministers cannot come into Topical Issues debates involving their Departments. While the Minister of State will do his best, it is not the same as having the line Minister present. Maybe it has something to do with the late hour. Maybe he is at home tucked in bed. I do not know.
Mallow is a fantastic town in the centre of County Cork. It has been designated as a key town in the regional, spatial and economic strategy for the southern region. The population target for 2028 in the county development plan is 15,351, up from 12,169 in the 2016 census, so it is growing very fast. It is a very nice place to live with outstanding education, sport, health and recreational facilities. It is probably the best served town in Ireland for rail services but traffic congestion is a major problem. Anybody who has been in Mallow at any time during the day will find that. People are stuck in traffic, which really kills the town. This has been recognised for many years. The need for a relief road has been agreed for almost a decade. An Indecon economic study was presented to the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Donohoe, by what was then known as the Mallow Representative Group in mid-2015, which found that a bypass for Mallow would remove heavy traffic from the town centre, enhance its attractiveness, facilitate the revitalisation of the town and would be worth up to €90 million to the town. Subsequently, the Mallow bypass project was included in the Government's capital spending programme for 2016 to 2021 and funding was allocated for a feasibility study and a pre-appraisal plan.
A lot of work has been carried out since. I understand that up to €1.2 million has been expended to date on the relief road plans. I think there were three public consultations. As recently as February, it was expected that an application would be sent to An Bord Pleanála later this year.
Cork County Council had applied to TII for €1.4 million to finalise the work and to bring the scheme to the board.
One can imagine the impact in the town and region when the TII allocations were announced in February and it was realised that only €100,000 was to be made available, and this was to pay for work that was already carried out. In effect, the project has been shelved indefinitely. I am told no further work can be carried out on the project, leaving property owners, the local authority, TII and the people of the town and region in limbo. I understand that the northern committee of Cork County Council has written to the Minister to express its deep disappointment at the decision to issue a section 24 letter which effectively overruled TII’s proposal to fund the Mallow relief road to the amount of €1.4 million. It maintains that the relief road is critical to the future development of Mallow and its environs. I understand that TII wrote a letter to Cork County Council dated 22 March 2023, and has also written to the Department of Transport, to point out that in its view the Mallow relief road is consistent with relevant objectives of national policy and that it has formally requested approval to increase the 2023 allocation for the project.
This is crucial for Mallow itself and for this part of north Cork. Much work has been carried out to date. It has been recognised for almost a decade that this road is needed. It is in the national development plan but with no rhyme or reason it has been stopped and shelved. I invite the Minister of State to come to Mallow some time and try to drive down the main street. Traffic congestion is killing the town. Heavy traffic, trucks and cars that have no business going down the main street have no choice other than to do so until this is done. We all know that if this goes to An Bord Pleanála, it could take a year and a half before the board comes to a decision on it. This has stymied the project and killed the project which is killing the town.
Why was this decision made? Just €1.4 million is required to continue the work that has been done already. One can imagine the frustration of all the officials in TII, the council and so on and the local people in Mallow, who have worked so hard for this, when they learned at the eleventh hour that the plug was pulled with no reason given.
11:50 pm
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I greatly appreciate Deputy Stanton’s indulgence that I am giving the reply. I will give the best response I can. From the outset, I want to underline that I completely acknowledge his commitment to the project and his advocacy that has been ongoing for it, as well as acknowledging that of the Acting Chair. His passion for it will be familiar to many of us here. I agree that Mallow is a great town and it needs increased recognition from the State.
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 NDP.
The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it. As 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. Approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds have been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. These allocations were announced by the Department of Transport and TII on 16 February 2023. They include the €100,000 mentioned to Cork County Council with regard to the Mallow relief road. 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.
The proposed N72-N73 Mallow relief road project is included among a number of major national road schemes that were identified in the NDP for planning, design and construction. This scheme consists of a single or dual carriageway bypass of the town of Mallow. It is greatly needed. I have been through Mallow in recent weeks and I fundamentally agree with the Deputy's comments. I do not take from them for an instant. The scheme length would be of the order of 4.5 km to 7 km. Early planning, design and appraisal work for the project has commenced. The route option selection phase has been completed and the project is now in the planning and design phase. The Deputy asked why the decision was made and I have done my best to lay out the budgetary constraints which the Department has identified. More importantly, I will undertake to go back to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, with details of our discussion this evening. If there needs to be a deputation meeting arranged, I will do my best to facilitate that. I will remain fully supportive of this project and of the efforts of Deputy Stanton and the Acting Chair, Deputy James O’Connor, to see it delivered as soon as possible.
David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Minister of State being here and what he has said but with all due respect to him, he is not the line Minister. He is doing his very best and I appreciate his support very strongly. However, this is not a new project as was outlined in the script that the Minister of State was given by the Department this evening. This project has been on the go for almost ten years. As recently as last February, we were told it was going to go ahead. We are told that there will be billions of extra funding in the Exchequer. The council is looking for €1.4 million to allow this to go to An Bord Pleanála where it might sit for six or 12 months or who knows how long. I do not know why we cannot find €1.4 million to allow this to happen. It does not make any sense. The €100,000 that was made available was already committed and spent. In effect, no work can be carried out on this project for the rest of this year and we have no indication when we might see this project start up again. The whole community of Mallow, north Cork and parts of Kerry is absolutely frustrated by this decision. Funding constraints my ass. Sorry, excuse me. There is plenty of money there so why the heck is this happening? I am not getting cross with the Minister of State but I feel strongly about this and believe that people in Mallow and north Cork deserve better. We are spending a lot of money on projects all over the country, and rightly so, but this particular project has been on the go for over ten years. In fact, it was spoken of well before then. When the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was Minister for Finance, he gave it the go-ahead. It is in the NDP. A lot of work has been done by officials in TII and the county council. A huge amount of work has been done by committed people and it is all for nothing. There is no vision. On top of that, we are being told about active travel and so on. That is all built into it. The whole issue about the climate action plan is built into this. We will take heavy trucks and traffic out of the town and we will reduce pollution. We will put in cycleways and footpaths, which the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, tells us he wants. Without any rhyme or reason or excuse, this has been pulled at the last minute. It is not good enough. I want to say to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, if he is at home tucked up in bed listening to this debate, to change this, to make that small amount of money available and to allow this project to continue.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I empathise completely with the Deputy’s frustration. I will take this back to the Minister first thing tomorrow morning. He is right that it is not acceptable that budgetary constraints have been cited for 2023. Two Deputies for Cork East are in the Chamber. It is my job as the Minister of State who is taking this question to go back and look at the funding envelope or whatever they call it in the script not just for the rest of this year but also for 2024. I commit to doing that. I give the Deputy that commitment because the case is well made. It is not a new project but one that the people of Mallow have wanted for much longer than a decade even though they have been promised it for a decade. It is the responsibility of everyone in the Government regardless of the constituency they represent to deliver on the promise made regardless of the supposed funding restraints cited.