Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Transport and the Marine the way and when an outer orbital route for Dublin will be delivered. [18122/07]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 55: To ask the Minister for Transport and the Marine his views on the necessity of the outer Dublin ring road; his plans to fund such a project in the lifetime of this Government. [17918/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 55 together.

As Minister for Transport I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under the Roads Act, 1993 in conjunction with the relevant local authorities concerned. The Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (2004-2016) and the DTO's A Platform for Change (2000-2016) identified a need for a Dublin Outer Orbital Route (now known as the Leinster Orbital Route) linking Drogheda/Navan/Naas/Newbridge.

Both Transport 21 and the new NDP committed the NRA to carrying out a feasibility study on the Orbital Route. In April 2007, the NRA completed an updated feasibility study which builds on an earlier 2001 study, looking in particular at the costs and benefits of such a route. As part of the study various possible route corridors were examined in detail. A corridor linking Drogheda to Navan to Naas was identified as the optimum route having regard to the policy objectives set out in the policy documents.

The primary objective of the Leinster Orbital Route is to provide an alternative bypass of Dublin for national road traffic not wishing to access the Metropolitan Area and to provide a transport link between development centres in the Hinterland Area of the Greater Dublin Area, in a way which supports their sustainable, physical and economic development.

The updated NRA study finds that there is merit in constructing an Orbital Route linking Drogheda/Navan/Naas. Neither Transport 21 nor the NDP provide funding for the project to be constructed in the period to 2015. However the Government Programme contains a commitment to prepare for delivery of the Route. The study is currently under detailed consideration by my Department.