N81 road safety
Deputy Brady raised the danger on the N81 in west Wicklow and sought progress on a long-planned bypass. The Taoiseach said he knew the road, but major projects had to be prioritised; he also joked briefly with other Deputies before confirming road investment and mentioning the Minister responsible.
I will now call those Deputies who were not reached yesterday, starting with Deputy Brady.
Comment on this
The N81 in west Wicklow is one of the most dangerous roads in the State. A new analysis carried out by Gamma Location Intelligence has identified some of the most treacherous roads, both national roads and motorways, and the N81 is on that list. Another tragedy occurred along that stretch of road two weeks ago. In 2016, after a process lasting nearly ten years, a route was selected for a 31 km new road between Tallaght and Hollywood Cross to address these serious safety issues. Unfortunately, the project was dropped and did not make it into the national development plan. It will not be considered until at least 2027. I would have liked to put this question to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport but I do not think we have a Minister with responsibility for transport in this Government because he is never anywhere to be seen. I ask the Taoiseach if this scheme will be taken down off the shelf and looked at because it involves a serious safety issue. I urge him to encourage the Minister to do so and progress this project as swiftly as possible.
Comment on this
I know the N81 very well but I do not know the details of this particular project. We have a roads programme that is powering ahead but it is only really possible to do two major projects each year. As the Deputy will be aware, the Enniscorthy and New Ross projects are being finished, the Sligo project has just started, the Westport to Castlebar project was signed off yesterday and we should make progress on the Ballyvourney-Macroom project in the very near future. There is a pipeline of road projects. We would love to be able to do them all in one year or in two or three years but that is just not possible given resource constraints and the availability of staff.
