Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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151. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current status of the A5 motorway project; and when the work is set to commence. [36238/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The planning and implementation of the proposed A5 upgrade project is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland authorities.

Following a Public Inquiry into the scheme in early 2020, the Department for Infrastructure received an Interim Report from the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) in September 2020. After careful consideration and having taken legal advice, the Minister for Infrastructure published the Interim Report together with her Department’s formal response to all the recommendations made by the PAC in the form of an Interim Departmental Statement issued on 16th March 2021.

The Minister for Infrastructure has indicated that she expects the Public Inquiry to be reconvened in early 2022, with a view to the Commission preparing a final report on the scheme.

The funding arrangements in relation to the A5 are governed by the commitments in the Stormont House Agreement and Implementation Plan - A Fresh Start and in the New Decade, New Approach document. The Government is committed to providing funding of £75 million (sterling) towards the cost of phase 1a of the A5 upgrade scheme once the statutory planning process in Northern Ireland has been concluded.