Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the total figure for funds he has ring-fenced for the A5 through Northern Ireland to Derry providing access to County Donegal, under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme 2012 to 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35091/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Arising from the St Andrew's Agreement, the Irish Government gave a commitment to co-fund the construction of the A5 through Northern Ireland to Derry thus improving access to Letterkenny and North Donegal. In light of the current economic circumstances, the Government has had to defer its funding commitment to this project.

As indicated in the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme 2012 to 2016, given the tight fiscal constraints, roads investment will be focused on maintaining existing roads, rather than developing new routes. It is therefore not anticipated that significant resources will be available for this project over that timeframe. Next year, a payment of £3 million is due in accordance with the current A5 payment schedule, and provision for this has been made in my Department's 2012 capital allocation. After next year, the funding requirements for the A5 will be met from the Government's unallocated reserves and not from the vote of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. This obviously includes the €25m contribution to the project in 2015 and 2016. As such, there will be no specific funding provision for the A5 in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport's annual allocations.

The Government will be discussing with the Northern Ireland Executive, at next Friday's North-South Ministerial Council, the extent to which it may be able to provide such funding in future years , and, in that light, the approach to be taken to developing a new funding and implementation plan.

Furthermore, I would remind the Deputy that the previous Government made no provision to meet the costs of the A5 post 2012 in either the Four Year Plan or the Infrastructure Investment Priorities Plan 2010 to 2016.