Seanad debates
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Road Projects
10:30 am
Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I thank him for taking this Commencement matter. It is an important one for me. It concerns the N24, which runs from Limerick to Waterford and is a key, strategic route. Work has been done on a future upgrade of the road. The work entails two sections, the first from Limerick Junction to Cahir and the second from Cahir to Waterford. The first is about a year ahead of the other and its proposed route is going through the design phase. The proposed route for the second section, from Cahir to Waterford, was picked last month, and funding is now needed for the design. What I am hearing in this regard from the Department is not positive. I might have to submit another Commencement matter to seek funding to keep it going.
Included in the proposed N24 project are two link roads in Clonmel, connecting Cashel Road, Fethard Road and Frank Drohan Road. The link roads have been included in the project to try to ease the traffic going along Frank Drohan Road. The amount of traffic there has been a problem for the town for years. As part of the new project, Frank Drohan Road will be the new, improved N24.
One of the two link roads is to go from the Ard Gaoithe Business Park roundabout across to the Fethard Road, just north of Clonard. The second, which is also really important, is to go from Longfield estate across to the Paddocks roundabout and then across to the Carrigeen roundabout. The really important point is that half of these link roads are done already. Those from the town know the roundabouts have been completed. The Paddocks roundabout has no link roads off it. The link roads were proposed in 2008 and it is now 14 years later. There was to be funding but there was a crash. We now have a new plan in place.
It is a big project to complete a road from Waterford to Limerick. This is really important. I am aware there are big projects right across the country and that not all of them will be completed, but I am saying that irrespective of whether the whole project is completed, be it in five, ten or 15 years, the two link roads should be built as a matter of urgency. They amount to only 1.8 km. Half of one of the link roads is done already. You would have to go through only one field, nearly, to complete it. The cost to the Department of Transport would not be excessive. If we build the link road from Frank Drohan Road, we will reduce a lot of the traffic in Clonmel. Ultimately, much of the traffic on Cashel Road and Fethard Road is because of big multinationals in the town, including Abbott and Boston Scientific, and the business park at Ard Gaoithe. An awful lot of traffic goes through this area in the morning and it all goes down to the Cashel Road and Fethard Road roundabouts. The new design will alleviate the traffic problem. For the town itself, we should be considering the link roads separately from the full N24 project.
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank Senator Ahearn. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding regarding the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP. The Government has allocated €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. This funding will enable improved regional accessibility across the country and compact growth, which are key national strategic outcomes. The funding will provide for the development of numerous national road projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an Exchequer allocation of approximately €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing national roads over the ten-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade. As the greater portion of this funding will become available in the second half of the decade, this means that there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects in 2023 and 2024. However, approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds were provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2023. The allocations for 2024 will be announced in the very near future.
The N24 Waterford to Cahir project aims to enhance regional accessibility and improve connectivity between Limerick and Waterford. This will enable improved access for businesses in the region to international markets via the ports of Waterford and Rosslare Europort. It will also deliver quality of life improvements for residents in towns along the N24, such as Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The project is nearing the end of the options selection phase whereby potential transport solutions are developed. This includes the preferred route for the project. The preferred transport solution was recently on public display.
The link roads mentioned by the Senator would form part of the overall transport solution but cannot be viewed in isolation from the project as a whole. It will be necessary to progress the project to the design and environmental evaluation phase in order to carry out detailed design for the project, environmental impact evaluation and to establish the necessary land-take requirements. Determination of the road layout, including for any link roads, will be determined during this phase.
Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I would appreciate it if he could take what I am about to say back to the Minister. The Department says the link roads cannot be viewed in isolation, but the Minister is doing that in the context of Tipperary town. On part of the road that is being constructed, the Minister has said that Tipperary town will be looked at in isolation in the context of a bypass of 7 km or 8 km for the town as opposed to the whole project. I am asking the Minister to look at Clonmel in isolation just has he has done with Tipperary town and to say that these have to be completed as a matter of urgency. We might not be able to do or fund the whole project initially, but what we can do is prioritise the two link roads just as the Minister has prioritised Tipperary town and its bypass. I am asking for nothing different from what the Minister has done. The Dunkettle roundabout opened this week. That is really positive but it took a long time to get to construction. The Frank Drohan Road is a car park for most of the day. It is no different to the M50 at 5 p.m. It is just a smaller road, obviously, but in terms of traffic and getting from place to place, it is a car park. People make decisions not to travel to places or go into town at that time simply because traffic is so bad.
I am simply asking that the Minister for Transport look at Clonmel in the same way as he has looked at Tipperary town, namely, in isolation. Continue the design if the design phase has to continue and fund it for the next year - because, as far as I am aware, it might not be funded - get it completed and then construct the two link roads. It is only just over 1 km long. It is easy to do.
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Minister is very keen to reduce traffic in the centre of towns. He is also keen to look at ways, including putting in bypasses or any type of local projects that can help in that way. I take the Senator’s point that he wants Clonmel to be treated in the same way that Tipperary town and that he would like it to be prioritised compared with the rest of the scheme. I will bring that request to the Minister and ask him to come back to the Senator on it.
It is important to note that over €15 million in capital funding was allocated to national road projects in Tipperary during 2022 and 2023. In addition to the Waterford to Cahir project, the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction project also received funding during that period. The allocations for national roads in 2024, as I said, will be announced very soon.
Each local authority is responsible for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local road networks under the Roads Act. Works on the network are funded from local authorities' resources and are supplemented by grants from central government. The Department of Transport provides substantial grant funding for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads. Last year, €626 million was provided with most of this funding, €556 million, being allocated to road maintenance and renewal. This is an increase from the 2022 allocation. In 2023, Tipperary County Council was allocated over €34.8 million for the maintenance and improvement of its regional and local roads network, of which over €33 million was allocated to road protection and renewal.