Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
91. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Transport the current status of the proposed upgrade of the N25 national road between Midleton and Carrigtwohill, County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21022/22]
View answer126. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Transport if his Department will provide additional support to allow the proposed upgrade of the N25 national road between Midleton and Carrigtwohill, County Cork, to proceed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21021/22]
View answerWill the Minister outline the current status of the proposed upgrade of the N25 national road between Midleton and Carrigtwohill? He will be aware, of course, that Cork County Council and his Department had agreed that this should be a very important upgrade, so much so that they have spent €1.2 million on a feasibility study.
I think €1.2 million has been spent so far on a feasibility study. Perhaps the Minister can let me know if that figure is correct, and where he plans to go with it now.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 91 and 126 together.
As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding regarding the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.
In the new NDP launched in October 2021, approximately €5.1 billion is earmarked for new national roads projects to 2030. This funding will facilitate improved regional accessibility and will also support compact growth, both of which are key national strategic outcomes in the national planning framework. The funding will provide for the development of a number of national roads projects, including the completion of projects which are already at construction stage and those close to it, as well as the development of a number of others. The N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton project is included in the list of projects to be evaluated for potential prioritisation during the period covered by the NDP.
Due to the fact that the greater portion of the NDP funding for roads projects becomes available in the second half of the decade, there is a constraint on the funding available for new projects this year. However, most national road projects in the NDP will continue to be progressed in 2022. Projects such as the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton road, which do not have the required funding to progress this year, remain part of the NDP and will be considered for funding in future years. With regard to the current status of the preparatory work on the project, I am advised by TII that technical advisers have completed their assessment of the route options for the N25 project and have determined the preferred solution. Improvements to crossings over this busy section of the N25, to improve safety and enhance active travel, are being considered as part of the scheme. Given funding constraints, it will not be possible to progress the project to design and development of the business case this year. The delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for next year and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available for the national roads programme.
I am aware that the Deputy raised this issue on Leaders' Questions. I think he was concerned that the Department had not responded to him. I wanted to find out about that and went into it in some detail myself. Indeed, I happened to have a meeting with TII today, where we discussed this and other projects. There are a number of projects - around eight - on the NDP which are not proceeding with further funding this year. That does not mean that they will not proceed in the future. We have a particular problem with the cost inflation that is happening now. We will not be able to build a fraction of the roads projects that are at various planning stages. It is important that we manage our budget and funding, and do not create false expectations in that regard. In respect of two of those projects, namely, the N24 from Kilkenny-Waterford towards Cahir and the N4 Longford to Mullingar, we agreed to complete and conclude some of the work there because those projects had not come to a final preferred route selection. It was unfair, particularly with the likes of the N24 project, where there might be six route corridors where land would be frozen, and people and farming and those looking to build housing would be affected, and so on. It was agreed to complete those projects to the final stage to get them to the same stage at which this particular section of roadway is, where there is a preferred route. I have looked at the red route - the Deputy obviously has detailed knowledge of it - that runs parallel, in effect, to the existing dual carriageway which would be converted to a local road system. I will come back to the Deputy on the detail. I have looked into it in quite some detail and I know the area well. It is one of those roads. We are going to have the problem that with cost inflation in road construction and with the huge number of projects that are at various stages in the planning process, we will not be able to build everything immediately. We should be open and honest about that.
There are a few issues that I wish to draw the Minister's attention to, and ask questions about. First, is he aware of the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, project and the plan to build thousands of houses and housing units close to the railway line at Water-Rock? Is the Minister aware that the road infrastructure that he has spoken about is not up to standard, and that TII has objected to the housing close to the railway line because the road infrastructure is not up to standard? One half of the Government is not talking to the other. I understand that over €4 million has been made available through LIHAF. That project may not happen. Some €1.2 million has been spent already on the road project that may not happen. There are people whose houses are on that preferred route. They have not been contacted or notified yet as to whether or not their houses will be bought or taken from them. It is a mess. In addition, is the Minister aware that there are 30,000 car movements per day on a very dangerous road?
I am aware. I said that I looked, in real detail, at the project. There is significant housing development planned. There is controversy in that regard not just in respect of the housing development, but also in respect of retail developments in that area. We have to be careful here because it was the subject of a court decision. The national Planning Regulator has been very specific in raising certain concerns about the nature of some of the planning in this corridor, and how it might lead to further increase in the volumes of traffic in the area induced by long-distance retail shopping. It is complex. There are safety issues. When I met with the chair of TII today, I said that we need to look at all options in terms of how we address safety concerns not just on this section of the N25. The N11 is another example that we are looking at currently, where there are slip roads onto dual carriageways, which were state-of-the-art when they were built, but are now coping with very difficult circumstances. I will be honest. The concern I have, when I look at some of the developments in the area, is that we may be looking at further induced traffic, which would actually exacerbate some of those problems.
For the Minister's information, the development to which I was referring is in a different place. It has nothing to do with this particular land.
It is not that far away from it.
It is. It is on the other side of Carrigtwohill. It is west of Carrigtwohill. It is not between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. That is what I am talking about. The LIHAF project is at risk.
I know that.
The developers tell me that the development of thousands of houses may not go ahead. TII has objected to the development. It has written to me and told me that the road is unsafe. It has asked the local authority to carry out safety measures on that roadway which could cost millions of euro. Could the Minister not allow this route to progress to make the road safer and to allow the housing development to go ahead? Housing is the biggest crisis that we have at the moment. Is the Minister aware that for the last 12 years, one of the largest industrial sites in Munster has been frozen because the road access is totally inadequate at Ballyadam? There is a proposal to open it up, which is not going to work either. It is going to drive more cars into Carrigtwohill, which already has cars being driven into it because of the inadequate nature of the road infrastructure. This whole thing came as a bolt out of the blue to the local authority last December. It was not expected. A lot of money has been spent on this project and on the LIHAF project. That is all at risk now.
I will go back to the point about not creating false promises. There is an issue in terms of the fact that we have a roads programme that is the length of one's arm and beyond, and a budget which, this decade, will not be able to deliver a fraction of it. That is before we look at the examples of these additional roads projects which are not at as advanced or developed stages as others. Therefore, it is difficult. If we were to give the false promise that we can provide all the housing and address all the issues, in my mind, it would not be an accurate assessment of what is happening. There are other developments in the area. I have heard what the Deputy has said about TII's view on how we could develop housing around the upgraded rail line and the much better services it will provide. They will provide real potential route options to take some of that traffic off the road and to actually really develop around the rail system. I believe that will be an investment that can transform the area, help reduce the volume of traffic and improve safety on the adjacent roads.
Is the Minister aware that the road is already at capacity?
I am.
That is the reason TII has raised issues with respect to its concerns regarding the operational safety of the national road network. It is located in an area considered for a future national road scheme. The proposed development could prejudice plans for the design of this scheme. However, it will not allow the scheme to go ahead. It is a catch-22. It is objecting to the housing development because the road is not to be allowed. It will not allow the road to go ahead, so the housing development cannot go ahead. It is a mess. It came out of the blue last December with no warning. I have written to the Minister twice about the issue and I have met him personally in the corridor to discuss it. I have received no response from the Minister or his Department. When I was Minister of State, I always ensured that any Deputy or Senator got at least an acknowledgement. That did not happen, where I was concerned, in this case. I got no acknowledgement from the Department, no letter back to me and no invitation to the Minister's office to discuss it.
That is why I was concerned. I apologised at the time.
The Minister did apologise.
My understanding is that a reply was sent.
It was not.
I will have to go back and double-check that.
I will continue to engage and, as I said, to look at those safety issues and look to see are there ways in which we can address some of them without necessarily having the full road scheme, which I do not believe would be able to get the budget within the constraints that I see ahead of us for the next ten years. Yes, we do want to address those safety issues and see if that can be done in an alternative way.
I will go back and double-check but my understanding is that there was a reply. If there was not, I will find out why it was not sent.
Is the Minister happy that the work done to date may be wasted? He is talking about managing budgets. He is now telling me that this may not happen for years without giving any indication. Can he in some way let the people on the route know whether or not their houses will be subject to a CPO? The route has been identified but it is very wide. There has been no contact with the people and it is not definite yet. I cannot find out and I cannot tell my constituents whether their house is going to be taken from them this year, next year or the year after. That is very unfair. There is a lot of uncertainty. A lot of money has been spent already and a lot of effort made by the local authority, local councillors and everybody else to get this right and, at the very last minute, without any warning, it was pulled.
As I said, we are very clear that we are not saying that road will never proceed. However, it does have to be within an overall budget and Transport Infrastructure Ireland will have to assess how it will manage and deliver projects, so it has not completely gone to waste and it could well be used.
My understanding of how this process works is that the CPO only comes in at the very later stages, when it gets through planning and through the various stages at Government, tendering and the other processes, and when there is a clear idea about those CPO arrangements. I do not believe that, at this stage, the CPO process would start for houses along the route because it is so far away from those sorts of detailed tender and post-planning arrangements that this is not when the CPO process would apply.
