Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh on Aire State. I am sure both of us would prefer to be back in the west in the sun, but we have to do our business in the House.

The issue I raise relates to the N59 between Galway and Clifden which passes through Moycullen and Oughterard, with which the Minister of State will be familiar. I appreciate work is being done on the road and acknowledge that planning for the Moycullen bypass has been advanced. However, I refer to the section of the road between Oughterard and Clifden which passes through Maam Cross in Connemara. What is the state of play in this regard? There have been two An Bord Pleanála hearings on the section between Oughterard and Maam Cross. The route chosen differs from the current one and there are concerns in the community that this might prove detrimental to the area. Environmental concerns have also been raised and we might be in bother at European level if we are not careful. During the An Bord Pleanála hearings the National Parks and Wildlife Service was not as vocal as it should have been.

Given that the Minister of State is from Westport, he will be well aware of the Delphi bridge disaster which happened a number of years ago. Mayo County Council got into a little bother because the European Union felt the habitats directive had not been fully complied with by the council and that insufficient account had been taken of the ecological issues raised by experts at the time. The Government got into trouble over the issue. There is a sense that we might take the same route on the section of the N59 between Oughterard and Maam Cross if the Government is not careful.

I would welcome the Minister of State's thoughts on that.

Issues are also being raised about the failures and the completeness of the environmental impact statement, EIS, and the Natura impact statement, NIS, as well as the fact part of this will be a DBO project. The nature of a DBO project means the plan is not available when the EIS is being prepared, so it is hard to gauge from an ecological point of view what the impact is going to be. This could lead to problems on an environmental level and, although this might have gone through the national planning process, it could be appealed to Europe. I want to know where we stand if that happens.

We all want to see the improvement of the road. It is very important for the people of south and north Connemara that we have good road routes to make the area accessible. Given the Minister of State's own involvement with the Wild Atlantic Way, he will be very aware we need to try to get people through the area in a proper manner but we also need to be very careful that we do it in the best way ecologically and in keeping with the needs and wants of local communities.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. In a personal capacity, it is an area I love. It is the most beautiful part of Ireland, as far as I am concerned, and I have an interest in the place. With the walks and other projects for which we are providing funding, it has a very bright future. It is one of the most beautiful parts not just of Ireland but of the world. We must make sure we protect it in whatever way we can.

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to discuss this issue in the House on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. I am sure all Members of this House will now be well aware that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has responsibility for overall policy and funding in regard to the national roads programme. The construction, improvement and maintenance of individual national roads, such as the N59, is a matter for the National Roads Authority under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

I am aware that the route in question is well known as one of the most important tourist routes in the country and is the principal access to and through Connemara and the many tourist attractions of the region, including Kylemore Abbey, Connemara National Park, the iconic landscape that envelopes the N59 route and the numerous towns and villages that draw tourists from home and abroad.

The N59 Oughterard to Clifden scheme originally consisted of a 44 km upgrade of the existing road. I understand that, due to environmental issues, it was decided in June 2012 to divide the scheme into two sections, namely, the N59 Oughterard to Maam Cross section and the N59 Maam Cross to Clifden section. The preliminary design, environmental reports and compulsory purchase drawings for the N59 Oughterard to Maam Cross section were prepared first and submitted to An Bord Pleanála for approval in October 2012. As regards the Maam Cross to Clifden section of the scheme, further environmental studies are required before environmental reports can be produced. It is anticipated that this section of the scheme will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in July 2014. Oral hearings into objections to the N59 Oughterard to Maam Cross section were held in February 2013 and re-opened in August 2013 to revisit some aspects of the environmental impact statement, as well as compulsory purchase order-related issues that arose at the first hearing.

An Bord Pleanála approved the N59 Oughterard to Maam Cross project on 23 December 2013. The highly sensitive and protected environment of Connemara, combined with traffic volumes of fewer than 5,000 vehicles per day, have made it difficult to justify significant realignments. In regard to improvements or realignments to the route, Galway County Council has procured consultants to prepare design and contract documents for the 10 km section of this project between Bunnakill and Claremount. An allocation of €1 million has been provided to Galway County Council for the N59 Clifden to Oughterard scheme in 2014. In addition, stimulus funding of €200,000 has recently been provided to Galway County Council for advance works on the Bunnakill to Claremount section ahead of construction of the N59 Oughterard to Maam Cross scheme. The advance works will include ground investigation, archaeological works, fencing of acquired lands, works on a section of the Connemara greenway and other areas of work related to peat restoration areas and advance bridge works.

As regards the timeframe for completion of the scheme, future progress on this scheme is subject to both the outcome of the decision of An Bord Pleanála on the second section of the project and the availability of future funding. It should be noted that the section of the N59 from Oughterard to Clifden is part of the overall route to Clifden and, of course, the most heavily trafficked section is from Galway to Oughterard. Within a constrained budget, the Department and the NRA continue to improve facilities for both motorists and cyclists along this route. In this regard, my Department recently announced a grant of €2 million for a greenway between Galway city and Moycullen. As part of the recent stimulus moneys, the NRA will shortly commence works on widening a 1.1 km section of road south-east of Moycullen village at a cost of €1.5 million.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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I concur with the Minister of State's fine words about the intense beauty of the area in question. I thank him for the full report on the development. To follow on from that, the Minister of State might go back to the Minister and ask whether he is concerned that certain people believe the NPWS took a hands-off approach to the second An Bord Pleanála hearing and that its full input was not given to that hearing. Therefore, there may be questions around the ecological aspect of the development between Oughterard and Maam Cross in particular, which may be challenged at a European level. This could have a serious impact on the development of the road. Parallels are being drawn between what happened in the Delphi bridge disaster and what could happen close to Oughterard. Is the Minister concerned about this and will he address those concerns?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will bring the Senator's concerns to the Minister's attention. As I said, it is an area I know very well and which I would like to see developed. While making progress, however, we have to retain its natural beauty. People in the area depend on tourism and the jobs it brings. The one thing we have in the area is its natural beauty, for example, at Kylemore and in the Connemara National Park - one could go on and on. We also need to develop infrastructure and roads, however, and I would like to see that happen. If the Minister has anything to correspond to the Senator in this regard, I will ask him to do that.