Dáil debates
Thursday, 3 July 2025
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Road Safety
9:35 am
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue for debate. It is an important one and sits within road safety. This was a tragic day on our roads in Donegal and east Meath. I extend my deepest condolences to all those affected. Internationally, in the world of sport, there was a very high-profile death on the roads. Road safety is incredibly important and this is a really important case in respect of Carlanstown. I raise it here because avenues have been pursued in Meath. Carlanstown is a growing community but it contends every day with speed on the roads, heavy vehicles on the roads and lots of movements in an area that has been wanting for investment in connectivity, traffic-calming measures and safety measures for vulnerable road users, particularly preschool children, school children, elderly people, people with buggies and people with limited mobility.
There is very heavy traffic and people travelling at speed. If we were standing on the streets of Carlanstown village rather than here, the Minister would immediately recognise there is a need for physical intervention and engineering intervention to calm the traffic. We raised this with Meath County Council and the reason I raise it here is that I have been informed, as have the local community and the local public representatives from the Minister's party, my party and from across the political spectrum, that this is a TII issue and not a Meath County Council issue. When we raised it with the council it points toward the process. TII identifies high-collision hotspots. It has road safety inspections. Those inspections have not identified Carlanstown as an area for investment. From its end, Meath County Council has feasibility and options reports and if identifying Carlanstown as an area in need of investment, it applies to TII for funding to bring the project to design stage and then it goes back to TII for investment in the project itself.
In effect, the residents in the area and the local representatives have been pushed from Billy to Jack. For me that is incredibly frustrating because it is clear what needs to happen. What is needed is some layers of tar for ramps at various spots along the road, signage and some markings along the road. This is not a significant investment. I have had experience of this before. Public lighting is already in place and it is often an issue we have in rural areas, in that public lighting needs to be installed. It is already there. It is incredible that these small works have not been earmarked and working their way through the planning and implementation phases.
Sometimes TII states something cannot be done because of the nature of the road, but this is the N52. It is a national road. If one goes further along that road to Clonmellon or Delvin, which are in County Westmeath, the exact traffic-calming measures the people of Carlanstown are looking for have been installed. We say firmly that they need to be implemented in Carlanstown as well.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for expressing condolences in the House. I suppose when he submitted this Topical Issue, he did not think we would be thinking of tragedies on our roads and indeed more high-profile ones. It is a timely reminder. The Ceann Comhairle has such a strong track record on road safety, it is appropriate we take a moment before discussing this specific issue.
As the Deputy is aware, the Minister is responsible for overall policy and Exchequer funding with regard to the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 and in line with the NDP, the operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for TII in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.
5 o’clock
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 enable improved regional accessibility across 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 which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. In addition, €2.9 billion was allocated for the protection and renewal of the existing national road network.
As the greater portion of this funding becomes available in the second half of this decade, this has meant there has been a constraint on the funding available for new projects in 2025. However, approximately €502 million in Exchequer capital funds was provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2025. It is worth noting that this year approximately €650,000 was allocated for the construction of new national roads in Meath, with an additional €5.2 million being allocated for the improvement of the existing network.
The allocation for protection and renewal of the existing national road network will fund a range of activities, including road safety improvements, pavement renewal, maintenance of bridges and structures, and measures to ensure the network can withstand the increased number of severe weather events.
The Minister for Transport understands from TII that Meath County Council is considering developing a scheme in Carlanstown. There are a number of potential road safety improvements, mainly relating to vulnerable road user facility provision and continuity through the village. I am open to correction, but it is my understanding, and this is where we need to get to the nub of the issue, and it is welcome that the Deputy has raised this in the House in order to do that, that no feasibility and options report has yet been drafted by the relevant local authority. Once a feasibility report is drafted, Meath County Council can engage with TII regarding the progression of the scheme.
That is what I have in the reply before me. I do not know if that is contrary to what the Deputy said. Perhaps we are trying to find out exactly what needs to happen here. I hope we can achieve something this afternoon to do just that.
9:45 am
Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for that response. I did not go directly to TII myself. I await a response from it, but this response from the Minister of State is helpful because it sets out the position.
Meath County Council has pointed to a pathway involving a TII-initiated process. That does not look like it is happening. In TII's inspection and its review Carlanstown has not come up. My question then was whether Meath County Council has the capacity or licence to initiate, through its own feasibility and options report, a proposal for Carlanstown. It is clear from the Minister of State's response that it can and that TII awaits that. I and the local public representatives need to take that back to Meath County Council and say it needs to initiate this. Then the question immediately becomes, and I hope this is one the Minister of State will take away, whether the funding will be there for this project, if it is a good project and if it is well designed, and how quickly we can make that happen. From our perspective, from the Meath end, we can contact the council and say it should get preparing its proposal for the feasibility and options report, get on to TII and we will pursue that. However, the question for the Department, TII and the Minister of State is whether there is scope to deliver this type of project, specifically whether there is scope to deliver it in Carlanstown.
Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to hear that the response was of some use. We look at the quantums available, as I alluded to at the outset of my initial response, in terms of the capital spending budget, not necessarily for new national road projects but the €2.9 billion allocated for the protection and renewal of the existing national road network, with a considerable amount, €502 million, made available this year. The Deputy will recall that we were both in the previous Dáil and we raised many issues in this Chamber as Topical Issues and I received issues under Commencement matters in the other Chamber. There has been a very distinctive step change in terms of the funding available in this half of the decade for national road projects. I know that is of little succour to the many Deputies and Senators, particularly those who are no longer here, who consistently raised issues and were told this would come in the second half of the decade. There is funding available. Again, it is down to the options and feasibility report by the local authority to make apparent the real necessity of these works. It is fitting that we conclude this debate in putting on the record our shared desire to make our roads safer on this fateful day.