Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am giving one minute to Senator Ó Clochartaigh.

The Minister of State is very welcome. I ask him to intervene to ensure that urgent remedial works can proceed for Seanadh Phéistín Bridge in Connemara. This bridge is located between Rossaveal and Oughterard. I am sure the Minister knows the area well. Some 17 families are affected in that they are cut off from normal life, so to speak, and are severely disadvantaged as a result.

I ask the Department to work out a solution to this problem. At the root of the problem is a European directive, which is being tested on Seanadh Phéistín Bridge. A limit of 1.5 tonnes was put on the bridge and as a result certain vehicles such as an ambulance, a fire service vehicle, the special needs minibus and a specially modified car for a disabled child cannot cross it.

Since the limit of 1.5 tonnes was put on this bridge certain vehicles, such as the ambulance, the fire brigade, the minibus for those with special needs, or a car modified for a disabled child, cannot cross it. This came to a head when a woman with a child who has cerebral palsy was found crying at the bridge because she could not cross it and bring her child for essential therapies. The child needs 24-hour care. This directive has the potential to cause a national transport failure because it applies to every bridge in the country but this is the first to be affected.

The nearest emergency ambulance, normally 9 miles away when the bridge is structurally sound, can no longer use this bridge and must travel an alternative 100 km route to get there. So much for response times. The alternative route is hazardous, very prone to frost in winter and at times impassable, which means it cannot be relied on in emergencies. A total of 17 families are stranded. One family, as I said, has a daughter with special needs who requires 24-hour care and travels in a modified vehicle which cannot cross the bridge as it exceeds the weight restriction. Oil supplies, animal feeds and goods can no longer cross because of their weight. It costs much more to buy them because of the bridge failure. Pensioners and families in need face unnecessary hardship, having to pay more to get fewer essential provisions. Some families cannot afford the extra costs and I am told they are freezing and starving as a result.

The core issue is that a judgment of the European Court of Justice, C-215/06, regarding the environmental impact assessment directives pertaining to roads and bridges under the current Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 prevents the work being easily done on this. The National Parks and Wildlife Service and Galway County Council are dying to do the work. They even have the money but they need, as I see it, an amendment to the law. How can this be quickly remedied? I ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister to intervene fairly quickly. The correspondence on this issue dates back to 2010. The substitute consent process under sections 74, 75, and 261A was intended for quarries but is now being applied to bridges.