Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, visited Clare last week and as always, the Minister is always very welcome there. He turned a sod officially on the new Killaloe bridge project, which is badly needed in south-east Clare because there has been traffic congestion there for years. I sincerely hope that we will see the Blake’s Corner project in Ennistimon moving swiftly forward, now that it has overcome the An Bord Pleanála hurdle.

The point about which I was most disappointed with the Minister's visit to Clare was his absolute insistence that the northern distributor road to connect south-east Clare to Limerick has no prospect whatsoever of getting funding in the short, medium, or long term. This is most disappointing because that particular stretch of road is essential for road transport connectivity between south-east Clare, Clare, Limerick and beyond. Some €19 million has already been spent on this project and we already have the first phase of that road between Coonagh Cross to Knockalisheen open. To have this project completely dismissed out of hand is not acceptable. I am looking for a debate here in the House in order that we can tease out this particular issue and find out exactly why the Minister believes that this project will not happen.