Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ahearn. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer 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 and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP. The Government has allocated €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country and compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of approximately €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade. As the greater portion of this funding will become available in the second half of the decade, this means that there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects in 2023 and 2024. However, approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds were provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. The allocations for 2024 will be announced in the very near future.

The N24 Waterford to Cahir project aims to enhance regional accessibility and improve connectivity between Limerick and Waterford. This will enable improved access for businesses in the region to international markets via the ports of Waterford and Rosslare Europort. It will also deliver quality of life improvements for residents in towns along the N24, such as Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The project is nearing the end of the options selection phase whereby potential transport solutions are developed. This includes the preferred route for the project. The preferred transport solution was recently on public display.

The link roads mentioned by the Senator would form part of the overall transport solution but cannot be viewed in isolation from the project as a whole. It will be necessary to progress the project to the design and environmental evaluation phase in order to carry out detailed design for the project, environmental impact evaluation and to establish the necessary land-take requirements. Determination of the road layout, including for any link roads, will be determined during this phase.