Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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594. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to provide a second bridge over the Liffey at Celbridge, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44725/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Overall responsibility for roads policy and funding for the implementation of transport strategies is a matter for the Minister for Transport. Kildare County Council as the Roads Authority, is responsible for the management of the road network in its administrative area.

Notwithstanding the above, the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is providing part-funding for some applicant-led roads projects that will enable residential and mixed-use development to be delivered.

A key measure in Project Ireland 2040, the URDF, with committed Exchequer funding of €2 billion, is supporting a programme of significant transformational capital projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework.

In 2021, following the URDF’s second call for proposals, I announced a preliminary allocation of €10,237,500 towards Kildare County Council’s proposal for a Celbridge to Hazelhatch Link Road. This followed on from Kildare County Council’s successful application for €400,000 towards the provision of technical assistance for the advancement of the project under the URDF’s first call for proposals in 2018, bringing the total URDF support towards the overall cost of the project across both calls to €10,637,500.

This project, involving the proposed delivery of a 2km link road and second bridge over the River Liffey, would provide essential infrastructure to support compact urban growth in Celbridge and enhanced connectivity between the Town and Hazelhatch Train Station.

All successful applications for URDF support must be carefully developed and managed in accordance with the normal conditions and arrangements that apply to public sector managed projects and in full compliance with the recently published Infrastructure Guidelines. On this basis, Kildare County Council is currently preparing a Preliminary Business Case for submission to my Department as part of Approval Gate 1 of the Infrastructure Guidelines. Upon receipt of this submission further consideration will be given to the continued advancement of this project.

It should be noted that while my Department works closely and communicates regularly with Kildare County Council in respect of their URDF Programme of works, responsibility for the advancement of their supported projects through the various stages of planning, development and completion is, in the first instance, a matter for Kildare County Council. Accordingly, detailed queries regarding the projects should be directed to the Council.

Finally, an interactive GIS Story Map site, containing details of all successful URDF projects under Call 1 and Call 2, was recently launched to give elected representatives and members of the public access up to date information on all URDF supported projects at a Local Authority level. The site is available through the URDF site or directly via the following link: experience.arcgis.com/experience/98a739a585944cf887f2dffe54c4f129/