Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Once funding arrangements have been put in place through the Department of Transport, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, the planning, design and construction of individual national roads is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, 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 NDP. In that context, TII provides the Department with regular updates on its delivery of the national roads programme.

I will provide the most up-to-date information available to the Minister in the timeframe up to this debate. Within the overall context of Project Ireland 2040, the NDP was developed to underpin the successful implementation of the national planning framework. This provides the strategic and financial framework for the national roads programme from 2018 to 2027. The focus of the activities of TII is accordingly being directed towards the development of the major national road improvement schemes aligned with and included in the NDP, along with the maintenance of the existing national road network.

The N11-N25 Oylegate to Rosslare Harbour project focuses on improvements to both the N11 and N25. The project commences south of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy motorway, which opened in 2019. The existing route runs through Oylegate village and on to Wexford, where it connects with the N25 road from Wexford to Rosslare Europort through the villages of Tagoat, Kilrane and Rosslare Harbour. This project consists of approximately 33 km of high-quality route which will form a strategic link between Rosslare Europort, Dublin and the rest of Ireland. The project will form part of two strategic links - between Rosslare Europort-Wexford and Dublin via the M11 and N11, and between Rosslare Europort-Wexford and Cork-Waterford via the N25.

The proposed scheme has been subject to pre-appraisal to establish compliance with the requirements of the public spending code and the common appraisal framework for transport projects and programmes. Approval was given by TII to Wexford County Council, as the sponsoring agency, to proceed with the appointment of technical advisers for phases 1 to 4, inclusive, of the TII project management guidelines in respect of progressing the planning, design and appraisal for the project. Phase 1, concept and feasibility, has been completed, while phase 2, option selection, has commenced. The virtual public consultation process on project constraints and option selections commenced on 6 July 2020 and concluded on 10 August. All feedback has now been considered by the project team and the detailed assessment of the scheme options and different combinations of scheme options is progressing to identify the option that best meets the project objectives.

The progression of this scheme is dependent on the availability of funding. The timeframe for delivery of any major or minor work projects requiring statutory approval, whether an environmental impact assessment report or compulsory purchase order, or both, is between eight to 13 years.As this project is in the early stage of planning it is not yet possible to provide an accurate estimate of the total cost of the project. The estimated cost cannot be finalised until the project reaches the business case stage process.

This project will increase the safety and capacity of the N11-N25 corridor. In addition to providing and improving the connectivity between Wexford and the surrounding areas of international markets, this proposed project will also provide journey time reliability for road users which will improve the quality of life for local residents. It will strengthen Ireland's international links, having a positive economic benefit to the region. A major benefit provided by the proposed project is improvement in road safety and the provision of infrastructure that can accommodate a larger volume of road users. In addition, improved journey time reliability may encourage an increased usage of road-based public transport.

Rosslare Europort is a key strategic transport link between Ireland and both the European mainland and the United Kingdom. In addition to the N11-N25 Oylegate to Rosslare Harbour project, the N25 Rosslare to Europort access road project is proposing to provide improved access to Rosslare Europort from the N25 national primary road to ensure and secure the sustainability and competitiveness of our key transport link.