Written answers

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Road Projects

Photo of Ruairi Ó MurchúRuairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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213. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the A5 road transport corridor upgrade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17871/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The New Decade, New Approach agreement re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to the A5 scheme. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to deliver key cross-border infrastructure initiatives, including the A5.

The planning and implementation of the proposed A5 upgrade project is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland authorities. The Northern Ireland Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) initiated Public Inquiry hearings for the scheme which concluded in March 2020 and the interim report was submitted by the Inquiry Inspector in September 2020.

In 2021, the Minister for Infrastructure published the PAC Interim Report. When doing so the Minister indicated her acceptance of the Inspector’s recommendations regarding the preparation of and consultation on further documents on the topics of flood risk and the consideration of alternatives to the proposed scheme. Department of Infrastructure (DfI) officials were asked to prepare a further addendum to the Scheme Environmental Statement for public consultation.

While it had been anticipated that these assessments would have been completed with a view to the Public Inquiry reconvening early in 2021, the timetable has slipped and it is now anticipated that it will be convened later this year and a final report will be available early 2023.

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.

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