Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there has been any recent developments regarding the proposed Narrow Water bridge project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22033/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As far as my Department is concerned the position is as outlined previously.  I was very disappointed that the project could not be funded under the INTERREG IVA programme because of the substantial funding gap between the tenders for the construction of the Narrow Water bridge and the project sponsors' original estimates.  The budget for regional and local roads has suffered major cutbacks in recent years and this year's allocation is down over €60 million on 2013 and I am not, therefore, in a position to progress the Narrow Water project at this point.  

As regards the next INTERREG V programme, the Department for Public Expenditure is the lead Department.  My understanding is that discussions are underway, involving the Northern Ireland Executive, the Irish Government and the Scottish Government regarding the Programme. The Operational Programmes will then be submitted to the European Commission for formal negotiation and approval by the deadline of 22nd September 2014.  It is estimated that the earliest calls for applications is unlikely to happen before March/April 2015.