I ask the Minister to support the relief road or bypass for Tipperary town. Jobs4Tipp, March4Tipp, Chambers Ireland, Councillor Annemarie Ryan and everybody want this bypass because it is not possible to live in the town with the congestion. The N24 project is being planned, but why will the Government not do what it did in Cashel some 25 years ago when there was the vision to construct a section of the road first? I refer to bypassing Tipperary town and doing the connectivity later. We must get the trucks and heavy goods vehicles out of Tipperary town because of the pollution, congestion and the dangers to pedestrians. Everybody wants this project to proceed. The Minister has had control of the purse strings for almost the last decade. He is still the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, so I am asking him to provide the funding to give us a proper link road or bypass for Tipperary town that will be adequate to alleviate its current traffic chaos.

I know road projects like these are extremely important and the role they can play in the prevention of congestion and in making transport on our roads safer. I am, indeed, responsible for the funding the Department of Transport has but I am not involved in decisions it makes concerning individual road projects. I am, however, familiar with the project the Deputy referred to. Government Oireachtas Members have also been raising this issue, so I will raise it with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to seek to understand further the status of this project and how we can make progress on it.