Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

I want to discuss serious issues with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and small but important projects which are not being delivered in communities across the country. I served in the local council before serving in the Seanad. I found that basic interventions we raised as councillors and that had the unanimous support of all elected representatives, engineers and planners, along with local transport plans, were ignored in the context of funding. This happens whether a project involves a pedestrian crossing, a small extension of a footpath or low-cost safety and traffic calming measures.

I want to highlight projects in Ballina that have been raised but that have not been the subject of any intervention. At the Quay village, all of the councillors in the area have called for speed reduction and have begged TII for funding for this. We have paid consultants hundreds of thousands of euro for active travel and local transport plan measures, but have had no delivery. Well-paid and well-educated engineers should be empowered to do this work. TII is responsible for building motorways and managing Luas extensions. That is where its competencies should lie rather than being pulled into the weeds on projects that local authorities are capable of delivering if they are empowered and funded to do so.

Another example is Culleens National School on Killala Road in Ballina, which was opened recently but which is missing a 200 m footpath extension. There is a requirement to request TII to deliver this. It is scandalous that this is happening. Another case relates to the Sean Duffy Community Centre in Ardnaree in Ballina, where there are multiple junctions without any intervention from TII to help support, fund and deliver safety improvements. The list goes on.We had a fatality on Lord Edward Street in Ballina. We are waiting for two years. How many lives need to be lost? Is one life not enough? Do multiple lives need to be lost before we get action and delivery in our towns and villages and on our streets from TII? I could go on. There is speeding on Emmet Street. Small interventions and measures are needed to improve the situation and these need to be devolved to the local authorities.