Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Teach ar maidin. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. This is my first opportunity to have a dialogue with him in an official capacity in this Chamber. I wish him well and I have no doubt that he will make a great success of the role he finds himself in.

I would like to talk to the Minister of State about the stretch of roadway between Castleblayney and Ardee that forms part of the N2, which is the main Dublin to Derry road. Unfortunately, this particular stretch of roadway is infamous for a high collision rate. Sections of the road have been classified as having twice the expected collision rate so, unfortunately, the death toll is alarming and heartbreaking. There have been 17 fatal collisions on this stretch of roadway in the past ten years and 24 fatalities in the past 18 years. Behind those statistics lie broken lives and families left with so much grief and a lifetime of heartache. As the traffic volumes continue to grow, the chances of more accidents on this stretch of roadway grow with it.

The community is quite frustrated, to put it mildly, with the lack of progress on plans to upgrade this stretch of roadway. In 2018, a process was undertaken to do design work with a view to realigning this particular roadway to make it safer. The ideal scenario is to have a four lane dual carriageway because, as we know, a dual carriageway is three times safer than a single carriageway. Apart from the safety element of this matter, there is a cross-Border element, that is, North-South connectivity. It would mean a quicker and more planned route for those travelling from Donegal or Derry towards Dublin.

On the land take, which is quite significant, I pay tribute to the local community who have stepped up to the plate. As a result of this new projected roadway, seven family homes will have to be demolished, and one commercial building and 17 farm buildings will have to be removed. For the people concerned, such measures bring a great deal of stress and annoyance. What is compounding this is the fact there has been so little progress on moving this particular stretch of roadway on.

The process began back in 2018 and a preferred route corridor was published in 2021. So far, Monaghan County Council, through Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has spent somewhere in the region of €5.5 million on this piece of roadway. Last year, the local authority sought additional funding of between €900,000 and €1 million to complete phase 3 of the process but, unfortunately, the funding was not forthcoming. l understand that allocations are being considered and an announcement is expected in the coming weeks. It is essential that this piece of roadway is included for funding. In the overall scheme of things, €900,000 does not seem to be an awful lot of money.

It is vitally important we make a statement that this Government takes road safety very seriously, and that it is serious about this piece of roadway, which is notorious for a high accident rate, by allocating €900,000 to allow the phase 3 process to be completed so that we can move on to phase 4.

I look forward to hearing the response of the Minister of State and hope that my contribution has not fallen on deaf ears.