Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Could we prioritise the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, of road funding for national, regional and local roads in order to have it as soon as possible? There was an indication that it would be announced a number of weeks ago. This is a critical announcement in terms of infrastructure right across the country, particularly in my county, Tipperary.

As the Leader will be aware, the N24 goes right through Tipperary, between Waterford and Limerick. It has been something that I have been very vocal on over the last number of years. Unfortunately, the previous Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, excluded half of that road from the priority list - the section from Waterford to Cahir. That has been stalled for two years. It has almost gone to planning stage. It would have gone through that stage by now if the funding had continued. In fairness, the current Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has put it back on the priority list, but what we need now is funding to get it going. The announcement needs to be made as soon as possible because Tipperary County Council is leading on the Cahir to Limerick section but Kilkenny County Council is leading on the Waterford to Cahir section and its dealings with the contractors are at the very end. They are down to weeks in terms of keeping them working and paying for their resources and we need the funding announcement as quickly as possible to continue that so there are no further delays. We have been delayed by two years because of the decision by the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, which I was absolutely against at the time, and now that we have common sense back in the Department of Transport, we just need that announcement as quickly as possible. There are people living on that road who are in a buffer zone and cannot build or develop. Children cannot build houses in those areas because they are in a buffer zone for a road that had been off the priority list for building, which is incredibly frustrating for people living between Cahir and Waterford. Will the Minister make the announcement as soon as possible because Tipperary County Council, along with Kilkenny County Council, is ready to go again and get this moving? People in our area have been waiting over 20 years for this road to be developed.