Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy McDaid, to the House. I am disappointed that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is not here to reply to this matter, but I know the Minister of State, Deputy McDaid, will take a great interest in this subject over the next couple of months and it is more than likely that he will travel this stretch of road.

The Castlebar to Westport road, a national primary route, is the busiest stretch of the N5 from Westport to Kinnegad, but it is also the worst stretch. What is the up to date position on the road? In the national development plan, the miserly sum of €350,000 is allocated for mapping and so forth. For the past number of years, it has been speculated that the road could be developed as a public-private partnership, a design build operate project, a toll road, a single lane road or a dual carriageway. It is all talk. Will the Minister outline the up to date position on the road and the timeframe in which it will be built?

As I said, this is the busiest stretch of the N5 and thousands of cars travel daily between Castlebar, the county town, and Westport, which is a major tourism attraction, two of the busiest towns in County Mayo. If one travels from Dublin to Westport on a weekly basis, one will see what a terrible state the N5 is in. The Government has let down County Mayo and is treating the people no better than Cromwell when he said "To hell or to Connacht".

I hope the Minister will prioritise this section of road for funding. It falls in the BMW region and the country got large sums of money on the backs of the people in the BMW region. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy McDaid, will use his position, and perhaps the position he is aspiring to in a couple of months, to prioritise this route.