Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Feighan in respect of his comments on interurban roads. He is dead right. The interurban road network serves most regions of the country well but the north west is not served at all. There was a plan involving the A5 route with a commitment from both Governments, North and South, to provide funding for the provision of a new 2+1 road network linking Donegal and Derry with Dublin. Of course, that was shelved in 2011 by the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who cut the funding commitment by the previous Government from over €400 million to around €50 million, which was to be used for design purposes. I am not having a go at the previous Government about this. I am saying that there seems to be a lack of commitment on both sides of the Border with regard to the A5. The shift in Northern Ireland appears to be towards the link road from Derry linking Belfast rather than the road going through Northern Ireland linking Donegal to Dublin. I would really welcome it if the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport could come to the House to discuss this issue.

The NRA is now known as Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I suppose it would provide the funding but the difficulty is that the capital funding has not been made available even in the 2017 budget to provide the commitments that are required. There is a need for political will on both sides of the Border to put this back on the agenda. I am glad that Senator Feighan raised the matter because it is an important issue. I would welcome it if the Leader could bring the Minister in here not just to talk about that route but to look at other interurban routes as well and bypasses around major towns. The Ballybofey-Stranorlar bypass in Macroom in west Cork is an example of a bypass that has not been progressed but is at design stage. When will the funding be made available to progress projects like these? Perhaps we could have a debate on all of those issues.