Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)

Today I raise the issue of the A5, on which more than 50 people have been killed since 2006. It was a dark day in Donegal yesterday when we heard that the A5 project was not proceeding. Transportation and connectivity are crucial for a big county such as Donegal. For people living in rural areas, it is the single biggest solution to rural isolation. Donegal has been patiently waiting on the A5 for a number of decades now. This news was devastating for Donegal, to say the least.

Will the Leader use his office to ask the Minister for Transport what effects this will have on the TEN-T project in Donegal?Furthermore, will the Minister for Transport come to this House and assure the people of Donegal that the Ballybofey-Stranorlar bypass, the Letterkenny-Lifford project and the Bonagee link road will proceed? We need the Minister to come to the House to tell us what went wrong with the project. We need to find out who was asleep at the wheel. Who is to blame? Who is responsible for this? We need to try to rescue this project because it is a crucial part of the development of the north west. We need to get down to the nitty-gritty of what went wrong and try to get it sorted before it is too late.