An fiú dom dul ar aghaidh agus labhairt ar an gceist thábhachtach seo muna bhfuil Aire anseo chun mé a fhreagairt?
Adjournment Debate. - Mór Bhóthar Iartharach Dáilitheach.
Tá an tAire ag teacht.
Go raibh maith agat as ucht cead a thabhairt dom an cheist seo a tharraingt suas. Is í an cheist ná chun a fhiafraí den Aire Comhshaoil an bhfuil eolas aige faoin bhrú mór tráchta ar Bhóthar Kingston i nGaillimh. Agus an nglacann sé go bhfuil gá le príomh-bhóthar iartharach dáilitheach chun an brú tráchta a éadromú. Agus más ea, an ndearbhóidh sé go gcuirfear san áireamh solathrú airgid le haghaidh an bhóthair sin faoin liúntas bóithre 1994 chuig Comhairle Bhárdais na Gaillimhe. Agus an ndéanfaidh sé ráiteas sa chás?
Tá an bóthar seo ag freastal ar dhá thrá, d'fhéadfá a rá. Sula ndearnadh líon mór tithe a thógáil i gCnoc na Cathrach bhí an bóthar seo mar an príomh-bhóthar siar chuig Gaeltacht Chonamara, agus go deimhin tá go dtí seo. An trácht ar fad atá ag teacht isteach ó Ghaeltacht Chonamara go dtí cathair na Gaillimhe agus ag dul ar aghaidh do dtí áiteanna eile in oirthear na Gaillimhe agus in oirthear na hÉireann, tagann sé isteach ar an mbóthar seo. Ach toisc go bhfuil an méid sin tithe tógtha anois i gCnoc na Cathrach tarlaíonn sé nach bhfuil an bóthar, go Kingston go háirithe, in ann glacadh leis an trácht atá ar an mbóthar. Tharla anchuid timpistí, ar an mbóthar. cheana féin agus is oth liom a rá gur maraíodh triúr deirtear liom. Tá an dáinséar ann go dtarlóidh tuilleadh timpistí uafásach ann de bharr an brú tráchta air.
The utilisation of the Kingston Road is greatly in excess of its capacity. An intolerable situation has existed there for the past few years, yet nothing is being done and the bad situation becomes continuously worse.
The situation that has developed is a classical example of lack of advance planning and of co-ordination between those in control of urban housing development and those in control of overall roads policy. The local authority responsible for housing development, in this case Galway Borough Council, has had all its plans for assistance and recognition of the problem by the Department of the Environment totally ignored to date. The Minister for the Environment has been made aware of this problem by me and others, including the combined residents association in the area of Knocknacarra, but all to no avail.
On 6 March 1992 the Minister wrote to me stating it was the responsibility of the local authority and that they had discretion to spend money from their block grant on this road. The letter states:
I wish to refer to your letter in connection with traffic problems in the Galway Borough area in the vicinity of Knocknacarra. My Department is aware of the necessity to improve the road network between Knocknacarra and Bishop O'Donnell Road. As you are aware, however, the planning and development of road improvement projects rests primarily with the local authority.
A proposal for the provision of a western distribution road between Bishop O'Donnell Road and the County Borough boundary was submitted to my Department by Galway Corporation in October, 1990. The local authority were informed that as the proposed road would be a non national road the planning and execution of works, including the provision of the necessary finance, was a matter for the corporation. The corporation may use the block grant provided annually by my Department to supplement expenditure from its own resources on such works.
The letter continues in this vein. The suggestion that the corporation could do this work out of a block grant was insulting because the Minister knew, at the time of writing that letter, that the block grant being allocated to Galway Corporation was only sufficient to maintain the surface of city roads and to provide and repair some footpaths.
In a letter to Galway Corporation on 27 August 1992 the Department of the Environment stated:
As the proposed road would be a non national road the cost of improvement works would, in accordance with normal practice, further be financed by the local authority from their own resources, supplemented at their discretion by the block grant for roads paid annually by the Department.
This repeats the ridiculous suggestion that this could be done out of the block grant.
On 4 September 1992 I requested the Minister to meet a deputation from the combined residents' association of Knocknacarra and although he agreed at the time, he subsequently cancelled the arrangements. The Galway city engineer states there is justification for the Western Distributor Road, also known as the Western Inner Relief Road, because of the inadequacy of the existing road network and in particular the Kingston Road with regard to capacity and alignment; the lack of traffic capacity at the junction of the Shangort Road (Distributor) and the Kingston Road; the inadequacy of capacity of Ballymoneen Road junction with the Barna Road; the elimination of traffic pressure on Taylor's Hill and Threadneedle Road junction; to provide a quicker link to the city area and the peripheries by means of the Quincentennial Bridge; to ensure that State investment in the Eastern approach road system is maximised to the extent that it does not terminate in a bottleneck, but rather distributes via this proposed Western Distributor Road as intended; and to facilitate further development and to ensure that future development does not cause increased pressure on the existing road network.
The proposed road, the design of which has been with the Department since 1990, is 3.25 kilometres. In the opinion of the borough engineer, the existing road network is incapable of dealing with the traffic utilising it, particularly during peak times. The corporation is concerned about the extent of public disquiet on this issue and the conflict between the volume utilising the roadway and its actual capacity.
Examination of the traffic shows that in excess of 1,300 PCU's per hour utilise Bishop O'Donnell Road while 356 PCUs per hour traverse the Taylor's Hill Road from its junction with Threadneedle road to Nile Lodge and a further 1,125 PCUs per hour traverse the Kingston Road. The estimated AADT is about 13,000 on Bishop O'Donnell Road, 3,600 on Taylor's Hill and 11,000 on the Kingston Road. The significance of all of this is clear when one compares it with UK standards of 500 PCUs per hour as outlined by the Department of the Environment in Roads in Urban Areas under the heading, Practical Capacities of Two-Way Urban Roads. It is clear that the capacity of the Kingston Road is approximately 500 PCUs per hour. Clearly, there is a great dilemma and according to the city engineer the Western Distributor Road is totally justified.
The proposed road is 3.25 kilometres in extent and the line as proposed and adopted by Galway Corporation follows the contour which represents the area between semi-arable and moorland and traverses an area which has been designated development land. In the city development plan it is envisaged that the population of Knocknacarra will be 10,000 persons by the end of the century and approximately 14,000 persons by the year 2010. Each development of 100 houses represents a traffic increase of 700 AADTs.
The city engineer claims the road is justified from the point of view of current traffic as well as the traffic to be accommodated. There will be a number of roundabouts and the city engineer estimates that the overall cost of providing the road will be £5.707 million.
In a report to the council in 1992 the city engineer concluded:
This Project is requiring to be done sooner rather than later as the situation which pertains in the Kingston Road is no longer acceptable and, indeed, is giving rise to much agitation in the area at present.
The report of the Knocknacarra Combined Residents Association which I submitted to the Minister 12 months ago states that they speak on behalf of 15 separate residents' associations representing 1,700 houses. They state also that several major isues have arisen which have not been adequately addressed, one of which is the traffic flow and the traffic management of the Kingston-Barna road. They claim that the completion of the Quincentennial Bridge and all the housing developments at Knocknacarra mean that the vast bulk of traffic converges on the Barna-Kingston road. These roads were just country roads but have now become the main artery of westward bound and inward city bound traffic. The roads can no longer service the Knocknacarra area and the only solution is the new Western Distributor Road. This proposed road has been at the planning stage for the past number of years and must become a top priority if traffic chaos is to be avoided. Long delays have been experienced by residents in the mornings, afternoons and evenings when going to work or bringing their children to the five schools in the immediate area.
It is claimed that the quality of life of the Kingston Road residents has been seriously eroded over the past five to seven years because of the heavy traffic. An editorial in the local newspaper on 16 June states:
...residents of the estates verging onto Kingston-Knocknacarra-Barna strip of road are now looking out onto something akin to "Brands Hatch" at peak traffic times and see no resolution in sight to their problems. This road is little more than what is laughingly described as a "country road" which has turned into a main highway because of the fact that the new city ring roads system has funnelled traffic from the eastern side of the city right around the city and out to a junction at the top of Threadneedle Road where it is duly despatched on its way to Connemara.
In the same article the editor uses words like "death trap" and "killer cocktail".
The time for passing the buck has stopped. The Department's ridiculous suggestion that Galway Corporation could do this essential work out of the block grant is not credible and makes the Minister look foolish. It is imperative that the 1994 Estimate contain a provision to enable this work to commence.
Tuigim go bhfuil an Bóthar Iartharach Dáilitheach le Bóthar an Easpaig Uí Dhomhnaill a cheangal le Bóthar an Cheapaigh, fad 3km. San fhad tréimhse táthar ag súil go gceanglófar an bóthar nua leis an mBóthar Réigiúnach siar ó dheas ó Bhearna, i limistéar an Chontae.
Leag Bárdás na Gaillimhe togra isteach sa Roinn i mí Dheireadh Fómhair, 1990 le haghaidh an Bóthar Iartharach a thógáil agus leis an airgead a ba gá leis a fháil, £3.8 milliún a bhí measta ag an am. Chuir an Bardas roinnt fáthanna ar aghaidh ag tacú leis an dtogra. Réiteodh sé na heaspaí a bhí ann i líonra na mbóthar mar a bhí, réiteodh sé an fhadhb maidir le brú tráchta ar bhóthar Kingston agus ar roinnt gabhal eile, ina measc an Bóthar Ard agus Bóthar na Mine Buí. Chonacthas don mBardás go mbeadh ról tábhachtach ag an mbóthar nua ag ligean do fhorbairt tarlú amach anseo ar iarthar na cathrach, tithíocht ach go háirithe.
Mhínigh mo Roinn féin, agus í ag freagairt don tógra, gur bóthar nach bóthar náisiúnta é an bóthar seo agus dá bhrí sin go raibh pleanáil agus cur i gcrích an bhóthair, chomh maith le hairgeadú an bhóthair ag brath go hiomlán ar an mBardas é féin. Níor cuireadh i gcoinne, áfach, úsáid an bhloc-dheontais a chuireann an Roinn ar fáil chuile bhliain le cur le haon achmhainní a chuirfeadh an Bardás féin i dtreo na scéime, óna gcuid airgid féin.
Níorbh fhéidir ag an am, nó san idirlinn, deontas spéisialta a chur ar fáil don mBardas i gcoir na n-oibreacha seo. Cé go gcuirtear deontais speisialta ar fáil ó am go chéile do údaráis áitiúla le haghaidh scéimeanna ar bhóithre nach bóithre náisiúnta iad tá ciste na ndeontais seo anteoranta. Is é an nós ata ann ná an méid is mó airgid a chur an fáil mar bhloc dheontas comhairlitheach le go dtugtar an méid is mo saoirse do bhaill tofa na n-údarás áitiúil le cinneadh a dhéanamh ar an cláracha oibreacha bóithre bliantúla, agus ar na tosaíochtaí a thugtar do scéimeanna éagsula ar bhóithre nach bóithre náisiúnta iad.
Is é an soláthar airgid ar fad atá ann i mbliana do dheontais speisialta ná £5.7 milliún. Is fiú a chur san áireamh gur ionann an figiúr seo go beacht agus an meastúchán is déanaí a rinneadh ar chostas an Bhóthair Dháilithigh. Ní bheadh sé réalaíoch a cheapadh go gcuirfí an soláthar iomlán ar fáil do scéim amháin nuair is feidir leis an airgead cúnamh a thabhairt do suas le 18 scéim ar fud na tíre a bhaineann fiúntas leo freisin.
Lean an Bardas ar aghaidh lena gcuid iarratais ag cuartú airgid cúpla uair ó shin i leith, an ceann is deireannaí ar an 11ú Lúnasa i mbliana, agus d'iarr siad go n-íocfaí na deontais i gcodanna, thar roinnt blianta. Tá an scéal mar a bhí, áfach, agus níl aon chaoi gur féidir liom aon deontais a chur ar fáil i mbliana.
Tá diomá orm ag tabhairt faoi deara ón iarratas is deireannaí nach bhfuil sé i gceist ag an mBardas aon airgead dá gcuid féin a chur go díreach isteach sa mBóthar Dáilitheach. An t-aon cúnamh a chuirfidh an Bárdas ar fáil don scéim ná airgead a thiocfaidh ó na táillí pleanála a d'fhéadfadh a bheith ann ó thithíocht sa cheantar. Is é iomlan an cúnaimh airgid seo ná timpeall £350,000 thar 3 bliana, agus is léir nach bhfuil a dhóthain anseo le tús na scéime a thabhairt chun tosaigh.
Chuir mo Roinn neart cúnaimh i bhfoirm deontais ar fáil do Bhardas na Gaillimh le blianta beaga anuas do bhóithre áitiúla sa chathair agus leis na bóithre náisiúnta a fheabhsú i gceantar na cathrach.
Idir na blianta 1987 agus 1992 cuireadh deontais thar £12 milliún ar fáil don mBardas. Cuireadh £711,000 ar fáil i 1993. Baineann an chuid is mó de na híocaíochtaí seo le togáil Bhóthar Nua Oirthearach na Gaillimhe, Droichead na Coiribe mar chuid dó, mar cho-oibriú idir an Bardas agus na Comhairle Chontae. I mí Mheán Fomhair seo caite dhearbhaigh mé an Ráiteas um Tionchar Comhsaoil don triú chéim agus an chéim dheireannach den bhóthar Oirthearach a shíneoidh ó Pháirc Mheirline go dtí an Baile Bán. Meastear go mbaineann costas £6 mhilliún leis an gcuid seo agus ta mé ag súil go dtógfar é i 1995 agus 1996.
Sa bPlean Forbartha Náisiúnta a foilsíodh le déanaí deantar meastúchán ann le haghaidh méadú san infheistíocht i mbóithre nach bóithre náisiúnta iad, agus a bhfuil tábhacht leo don eacnamaíocht. Thar an tréimhse 1994-99 tá mé ag súil go gcuirfear deontais Stáit de luach £475 milliún ar fáil le haghaidh na mbóithre seo a fheabhsú. Tá san áireamh le seo £235 milliún a bhfuil súil leis a bheidh cáilithe le híocaíochtaí a fháil ó Chiste Fhorbartha Réigiunach na hEorpa agus a thabharfaidh mo Roinn féin amach mar dheontais do scéimeanna éagsula a chuirfidh na húdaráis áitiúla ar fáil ar an mbonn go gcuirfidh siad le cruthú fostaíochta, forbairt tuaithe agus gníomhaíocht eacnamiúil, i dtionsclaíocht agus i dturasóireacht ach go háirithe.
Déanfar socrú maidir le sonraí an scéim deontais seo i gcomhairle le Coimisiún an Chomhphobail Eorpaigh agus cuirfear in iúl iad do na húdaráis áitiúla chomh luath agus is féidir. Beidh sé ag brath ar Bhardas na Gaillimhe athbhreithniú a dhéanamh ar a iarratas le haghaidh airgeadú an Bhóthair Dháilithigh i dtéarmaí na socraithe nua seo agus i gcomhthéacs an chiste iomláin a bheidh ar fáil le haghaidh fheabhsú bóithre nach bóithre náisiúnta iad agus a bheidh cáilithe le haghaidh cabhair ón gComhphobal Eorpach. Bheadh ar an mBárdas a chur in iúl cén tosaíocht a cheanglaíonn an Bardas féin leis an scéim seo agus le scéimeanna ar bith eile gur mhaith leis a chur ar aghaidh.
Is dóigh liom go ndáileofar an t-iarmhéid do £240 milliún, nach mbeidh i dteideal ais-íocaíochtaí a fháil ón gComhphobal Eorpach, go ginearálta mar atá a dhéanamh faoi láthair ag mo Roinn i dtaobh na mbloc deontais comhairlitheacha le haghaidh feabhsuchán ar bhóithre nach bóithre náisiúnta iad.
Approximately £30 million was provided by my Department for road improvement works in Galway city in recent years and there are proposals to carry out further improvements at a cost of £6 million in the next few years. The road in question does not come within the ambit of the national primary routes and the total funds available to the Government for those type of roads is £5.7 million for the country as a whole. We have undertaken 18 projects throughout the country and, in the circumstances, it was not possible to provide financial support for the project to which the Deputy referred. However, it will be considered in the context of submissions by Galway Corporation for special regional and important routes for industry, tourism and commercial development provided for in the National Development Plan.