Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My Commencement matter concerns a slip road onto the M1 at Donabate. The villages of Donabate and Portrane are situated on a peninsula in north County Dublin and have a combined population of approximately 9,000. There is significant ongoing development and approximately 4,000 new housing units are planned in the not too distant future. The construction of the national forensic hospital on the St. Ita's Hospital site is well under way and it is thought it will be operational at the start of 2020. Over 500 staff will be employed in the new hospital.

The largest building in Ireland is the Tesco distribution centre in Donabate. It measures 78,000 sq. m in size on a 40 acre site. Over 1,000 employees are based at the distribution centre from where goods are distributed across Ireland and Europe. There is a significant volume of traffic in the area because of the centre and the large population living on the peninsula. This trend is set to continue once the national forensic hospital is fully operational and the extra 4,000 housing units are built in the area.

Around the time the Tesco distribution centre was built ten years ago, it was envisaged that a slip road would be built close to it at the top of Turvey Avenue. That project should be looked at again as the slip road was not constructed at the time. There is significant pressure on the M1 slipway at Hearse Road.There are significant tailbacks there at particular pressure points. This M1 slipway off the top of Turvey Avenue, as was envisaged at the time, should be seriously considered now. As it will just be a slip road and not a bridge, the outlay will be very much contained.

Not only would the population of Donabate and Portrane benefit from this, commuters from Rush, Lusk and Skerries feeding into the current slip road onto the M1 would be diverted through this before they hit the roundabout at the top of the Hearse Road. It is a simple piece of infrastructure that would have a significant positive impact on people's lives there. Fingal County Council received €8.5 million at the time of the development of the Tesco distribution centre. That money should be used to relieve the pressure on the local population.

While speaking about the infrastructure on the peninsula, I also mention the severe lack of pedestrian footpaths and cycle lanes in the area. I welcome that the new distributor road, which has just started construction, will have cycle lanes. However, once the cyclists come off the distributor road onto the Hearse Road, they will be met by a large volume of traffic on what is in effect a country road. Cycle lanes should be introduced on the Hearse Road and around the peninsula in general. A large population now lives there without adequate footpaths for pedestrians. The lack of cycle lanes on the Hearse Road makes it very dangerous for cyclists and causes considerable tailbacks on the Hearse Road. That will intensify when the distributor road opens and when the extra population arrives on the peninsula.

The population cannot grow as rapidly as it is currently growing in the area without proper infrastructure being put in place. I appeal to the Minister to consider introducing such an M1 slipway which would have a massive impact on the area for a very small outlay. North County Dublin is the fastest growing area in the country and we need proper infrastructure.