Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We spoke before about west Cork, and I stated that it is one of my family's favourite places to visit. We were lucky to get there again this summer. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has responsibility for overall policy and funding regarding the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, planning, design and construction of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.Overall, TII is responsible for the delivery of the national roads programme in accordance with Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan, NDP.

The programme for Government commits to a planned review of the NDP and a public consultation by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is under way. The review will be used to set out an updated NDP for the period out to 2030. Work is under way within the Department of Transport to contribute to this review. Within the overall context of Project Ireland 2040, the NDP was developed to underpin the successful implementation of the national planning framework, NPF. This provides the strategic and financial framework for the national roads programme for the period from 2018 to 2027. The review of the NDP will be aligned with the NPF and Project Ireland 2040. The focus of TII's activities is, accordingly, being directed towards the development of the major national road improvement schemes that are included in the NDP, along with the maintenance of the existing national road network.

All projects, including those listed in the NDP or any revision of the NDP, require statutory approval and compliance with the public spending code. In that context, TII provides the Department of Transport with regular updates on its delivery of the national roads programme. Within the timeframe given in the lead-up to this debate, the following information is the most up-to-date information available to me on TII's delivery of this project.

Currently, the N71 relief road around Bandon ties back into the existing road network via a very steep downhill gradient. Traffic also needs to negotiate a number of roundabouts and priority junctions within the built-up area of Bandon. There is quite heavy traffic in the area on the N71, with an annual average daily traffic of between 9,000 and 14,000 vehicles, as has been noted by the Senator, and a heavy goods vehicle, HGV, percentage of up to 5%. The proposed relief road extension would involve bridging over the R603 to remove the existing steep gradient and construction of approximately 2.5 km of new single carriageway tying back into the existing N71, just to the west of the town.

A feasibility study was completed by Cork County Council and TIl is currently reviewing this. The project appraisal plan was approved by my Department early this year and TII allocated €100,000 to Cork County Council to progress this pre-appraisal work during 2020. This work on early planning and design will continue in 2021 with a preferred route for the bypass extension to be identified. The timeframe for the delivery of any major or minor works projects that require statutory approval, whether for an environmental impact assessment report or a compulsory purchase order, or both, is between eight and 13 years.

In the context of the national roads programme capital budget provided by the Department of Transport to TIl, significant funding has been provided towards the improvement of the N71 in Cork since 1994, with funding of approximately €2 million provided in 2020 for various improvements on the N71 route. Previous investment includes major improvement schemes such as the Skibbereen and Bandon bypasses; pavement and minor scheme works; safety schemes; and planning and design for further upcoming schemes. This is a good opportunity to highlight that all projects, including those listed in the NDP or any revision of the NDP, require statutory approval and compliance with the public spending code.