Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of Fianna Fáil I welcome what the Minister outlined today. I must refer to the Slane bypass, another issue of life and death. I welcome the Minister to the House. She is a most respected Minister. However, while I respect her I would prefer to see her constituency colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar. He is obviously not available. That is no disrespect to the Minister, Deputy Burton. I am disappointed that he is not present because he said this morning on the radio that he is not prepared to meet residents in Slane either.

We all know what happened yesterday. Following on from the decision on the children's hospital, An Bord Pleanála has turned down an application by the State to build a bypass of Slane in County Meath. It has generally been agreed by people in the area, their elected representatives and successive Governments, that a bypass is required as an urgent matter of health and safety, life and death for the people of Slane village.

Unfortunately, An Bord Pleanála turned down the application on a number of grounds. I urge the Minister, the National Roads Authority, NRA, and Meath County Council to at the very least obtain legal advice on the pursuance of a judicial review into the decision. An Bord Pleanála has taken over the role of the Minister and the NRA on roads policy in terms of deciding whether a road is needed. It has taken into account aspects of the county development plan on Brú na Bóinne while ignoring specific objectives of said plan on the bypass of Slane. It allowed a bridge - a Senator suggested it should be the Mary McAleese bridge - to run right through the Brú na Bóinne site over where the battle of the Boyne took place and there was not a word about that, but now when health and safety is an issue at Slane, An Bord Pleanála has seen things differently.

It does not give confidence in the planning process when public projects are turned down while other private projects and various atrocities over the years have been approved by An Bord Pleanála. I urge the Minister to at least consider that. It is important that he does. He referred to a 90-day, three-month consultation period between the NRA and the various parties. If he waits three months it will be too late for a judicial review due to the tight timelines.

A number of other measures must be implemented as a matter of severe urgency. I call on the Minister to contact the Garda Commissioner about traffic in Slane. Last night on the news at 9 p.m. one could see lorry after lorry clearly breaching the speed limit in the village of Slane. It was outrageous to see that on television; multiple lorries breaching the speed limit and making a mockery of the 30 km/h speed limit that had been put in place in Slane to protect the safety and lives of people. I urge the Garda to take the issue seriously and to install speed cameras. I urge the Government to use whatever powers of persuasion it has over the Garda to ask it to prioritise enforcement. I also call for the introduction of measures from funds at the Minister's disposal to further alleviate traffic in Slane. The Minister must not waste the momentum and the money that has been spent in recent years on the planning application by simply abandoning the project. I am concerned by today's comments from the NRA that An Bord Pleanála has suggested a bypass might never be built. The NRA is correct in its interpretation but it added that we must accept the decision. I do not accept the decision. The Government must consider a judicial review in this case. I ask the Minister to at the very least consider it within the time limits that apply.

Terry Brennan (Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Byrne for staying within his allocated time.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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We are all behaving because the Senator is Acting Chairman. I thank Senator Byrne for giving me with the opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the recent decision of An Bord Pleanála on the proposal to bypass Slane village. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who regrets that he is unable to attend. He asked me to express his regrets to Senator Byrne.

I understand the extreme disappointment of residents from the Slane area because of the An Bord Pleanála decision. I acknowledge that the current situation is dangerous and that there is heavy congestion. I know the road and the area well and at times it is terrifying. This scheme was intended to divert traffic away from Slane's original stone bridge and the steep approaches to it from both sides, which has been a factor in a number of road traffic accidents. In particular, there are road safety concerns about the use of this route by heavy goods vehicles.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has responsibility for overall policy and funding on the national roads programme. The planning and design of individual national primary and secondary roads is a statutory function of the NRA under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007. The NRA works closely with the local authority in whose administrative area the road is to be constructed, in this case Meath County Council.

An Bord Pleanála refused the scheme on a number of grounds, including that it was not satisfied that the alternatives to the bypass were properly considered, given that the bypass would be near Brú na Bóinne - a UNESCO world heritage site. In particular, it did not believe that a HGV ban in Slane was adequately considered.

The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has asked the NRA, in conjunction with Meath County Council and the relevant stakeholders, to examine the detail of the An Bord Pleanála decision and how to respond to it. As the decision was only released by An Bord Pleanála yesterday, it will take time for a detailed considered response to emerge from either organisation. The Minister has requested this is to be done within 90 days.

However, it is not a case of selecting a new route at this stage. An Bord Pleanála did not reject the route chosen or suggest that another route would have received permission, instead the priority is to address the traffic safety concerns in Slane. Returning to An Bord Pleanála would only be possible if it could be clearly shown that traffic management in Slane was not possible and there was no alternative to the bypass.

A ban on HGV's through Slane is an issue for Meath County Council to address. Much work has been carried out on safety upgrades and traffic calming on the approaches to the bridge and, thankfully, traffic accidents have significantly reduced. Everyone who uses the route is aware of the issues.

Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased the Minister described the road as "terrifying", which is the case. It is gratifying that this has been acknowledged. Everyone knows that. I am astounded by the volume of comments on my Facebook page in recent days. People referred to their fear on the road and how they must constantly look through the rear-view mirror. I wondered why I did not experience that myself. The reason is because I avoid the road as much as possible. I use alternative routes if I can avoid the road. I hardly ever drive down the hill.

I am disappointed at the response. It appears that the NRA and the Minister are putting up their hands and accepting the defeat. If the shoe were on the other foot and the road were approved, one could bet one's life that the objectors would go straight down to the High Court. In looking for a response from the council and the NRA within 90 days, the Minister is, in effect, ruling out a High Court challenge because there is an eight week time limit on planning cases. That is most unfortunate. I urge the Minister to reconsider. At the very least he should consider going to the High Court. I do not say we should drop everything and run down there now but at least get the legal advice and do it within the time because there are serious issues with this judgment and if I were a Minister I would not want An Bord Pleanála deciding roads policy. That is not its function.

The function of the bord is planning and it has raised some planning issues, but it has also raised issues to do with roads policy in stating that a bypass should not be built unless all of the alternative options are examined. As someone said, a precedent appears to have been set in this regard in that if a tolled road is located parallel to a village it will not get approval for a bypass from An Bord Pleanála. That is not a planning matter. It is a matter for democratic decision making.

I am trying to highlight to the Garda the necessity for enforcement in this regard and I would like the National Roads Authority to do that also. We will keep up the pressure from this side of the House. Everybody is agreed on the need for this bypass. I accept the Minister will issue a response soon but I would like to see even more urgency on this issue.