Need to upgrade North Ring Road

The need to upgrade Cork’s North Ring Road was raised in the Dáil by Cork North Central Fianan Fáil Deputy Billy Kelleher in order to address Cork's current absolute dependence on the tunnel for its infrastructure and traffic movement.

“When one considers Cork, its layout and its traffic infrastructure on the eastern side of the city, it is completely dependent on the tunnel in respect of traffic going from north to south,” he said. “Were anything to happen to that tunnel, there would be no access across the River Lee for the volumes of traffic currently passing through the tunnel on a daily basis.”

Deputy Kelleher said Apple is located on the north side of the city. It is a huge employer and an international flagship company. “We want to be able to capitalise on that type of company locating in the heart of the north side of the city but the only way we can advance industry and commerce in the area is by developing a proper traffic route,” he said. “This requires the building of the North Ring Road from Killydonoghue on the eastern side to Poulavone in Ballincollig. Anything short of that undermines the capacity of the city to develop on the north side. There is an unequal balance between the two sides of the city in terms of investment. This is patently obvious any day of the week; one needs only drive across the city.”

Linking our two great cities is the next piece of the jigsaw, he said. “We must put the M20 back firmly on the map. The North Ring Road in Cork and the M20 between Cork and Limerick are critical infrastructural developments. These two great cities could create a counter-weight. They would be two great cities coming together. We do it regularly in rugby and we could also do it in many other areas. We would have a corridor from Galway, south to Limerick and on to Cork. These are three university cities which have an exceptional quality of life and are linked by rail and road.”

Replying on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan said within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects such as the Cork North Ring Road is a matter in the first instance for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act. Given the national financial position, there have been large reductions in Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure over the past number of years, she said. For this reason the focus has had to be on maintenance and renewal rather than major new improvement schemes. The Northern Ring Road was one of a range of proposed road development projects which had to be deferred.