A Chathaoirligh, I thank you for allowing me to raise this matter and I thank the Minister for attending the House.
The Kilrush-Ennis-Kilkee route is an important road because it is the network which carries the main bulk of traffic from west County Clare to Ennis, the county's main town. In recent years there has been a severe deterioration in the condition of the road. This was partly due to the increase in heavy traffic during the construction work at Moneypoint. A sizeable number of people are employed at the Moneypoint generating station and the resulting heavy traffic on the main route has meant that in many places the road has collapsed entirely.
There are some important areas of population along the route. For example, at Lissycasey, a small village along the route, the situation is dangerous due to the inadequate lighting system and the poor condition of the road. I draw the attention of the Minister to that section of the roadway.
Approximately two years ago a start was made in undertaking a major reconstruction and development of the road. Some work was undertaken on the Kilrush side and around Ennis. I compliment the county council staff on the way they proceeded with that work. With a small budget they succeeded in making a major improvement in the road in the environs of Ennis and Kilrush. The Kilrush stretch needs to be resurfaced urgently, given the volume of traffic, the amount of work undertaken in the area and the importance of the route itself.
The high volume of traffic resulting from the Moneypoint development and from the Killimer car ferry, the substantial number of large buses taking students to the universities and colleges at weekends and the normal school bus traffic along the route results in heavy traffic on the road. In consequence, there has been a number of serious accidents where heavy vehicular traffic has left the road. This has been a danger to people in business and has resulted in severe losses.
Another important aspect of this road is that from the viewpoint of Kilkee and the west it is vital for the development of the tourism business. Much of the work on the development of tourism has been hampered by the lack of suitable access routes to places such as Kilkee. From the perspective of the development of tourism and business in the west, where there are many small businesses striving hard to succeed, it is of vital importance that a big effort be made to have funding provided to the county council to undertake the necessary remedial and reconstruction work required on that stretch of roadway.
I compliment the Minister on the efforts he has made since taking up office in having substantial funding made available to the local authorities to undertake development work on the county and regional road network. Through his efforts the Minister has been successful in obtaining substantial EU funding. In view of this, I direct his attention to this roadway to ensure that in the forthcoming allocations he will find it possible to make a meaningful contribution to the county council to enable it continue the work it started a couple of years ago and to undertake work now which will help avoid substantial costs in the future.
