Vol. 330 No. 4
asked the Minister for the Environment the position in relation to the road from Glengarriff to Castletownbere, County Cork; if it has already been reclassified as a national secondary road or if his Department have instructions to reclassify it; and when such instructions were issued.
5.
asked the Minister for the Environment when he intends to reclassify the roads in south-west Cork in view of the fact that this area has no mileage of national primary road and only a very limited mileage of national secondary roads.
I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together. While my predecessor had indicated that he was favourably disposed to the reclassification of this road, it has not been reclassified to bring it within the national road network. Following correspondence with Cork County Council, proposals were submitted by the Council for the classification of certain roads in County Cork as national secondary roads, including this particular road. These proposals are being examined.
Is the Minister aware that last May his predecessor at a meeting in Castletownbere announced that the road from Glengarriff to Castletownbere would be made a national secondary route by his Department?
It was not the Minister but a colleague of his who made that promise. The fact is that it has not been done so far.
In view of the fact that over £1 million has been pumped into Castletownbere to make it a major fishery port, the huge bulk of container traffic leaving that port for Europe and the fact that the 21-mile road from Glengarriff to Castletownbere is commonly known as the Burma Strip, will it be reclassified as a national secondary road?
I cannot tell the Deputy that now. These proposals are being examined in my Department and I will communicate with the Deputy as soon as a decision is made.
Will the Minister say whether he has received proposals from Cork County Council for the reclassification of roads in the county generally to enable them to keep the county road system up to reasonable standards which, as a result of reclassification——
The Deputy's question is not in order. A final supplementary.
Has Question No. 5 been answered?
Yes.
We have 2,022 miles of county roads in south-west Cork and only 92 miles of that are national secondary roads, which is a very low average. In view of the fact that we do not have one mile of national primary road in that constituency when will the Minister reclassify the roads?
I cannot give an assurance as to the time it will be done. The matter is part of a submission from Cork County Council about a number of roads in the area. When that has been fully examined and a decision made I will communicate with the Deputy.
Very unsatisfactory.
It might be of interest to the House that it was not the only promise made in April and May by the outgoing Government. One member of that Government said to me: "We left a few time bombs for you". This might be one of them.
