Tipperary town bypass delay
Deputy McGrath says Tipperary town is choked by traffic and has long awaited relief road and N24/M24 investment. The Minister says roads funding has increased and he will raise the delay with the Transport Minister and colleagues.
I am sure the Minister has heard the song, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Tipperary town has been forgotten by successive Governments. We were promised and had great hopes for an outer relief road or bypass. The N24, which is to be the M24, is trudging along ever so slowly, and God knows when we will see the funding for it or see it developed. Tipperary town is choked with trucks, lorries and cars and business cannot flourish there either because it is choked with trucks on a daily basis, from early morning until late at night. The infrastructure is bursting at the seams. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, gave us great hope that we would have a bypass of the town as part of the footprint of the M24 or an outer relief road. Nothing has happened in design or anything else. We are on the eve of an election and Tipperary town is languishing and left behind once again. It is very frustrating. Jobs for Tipp and March for Tipp were all organised together six or seven years ago and there were great hopes but they have all been dampened and left behind by the Government once again.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy. The money made available for new roads, bypasses and the kinds of changes the Deputy referred to has increased. I am not sure what specifically is delaying the project the Deputy referred to but I will raise it with the Minister and my colleagues in the Department of Transport.