I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise this important issue in the House tonight, namely, the need for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to provide adequate specific funding, other than European Union co-financed grants, for the Ennis inner relief road, which will cost more than €3 million, to ease the congestion in the centre of the town.
In 1985, the critical objective identified in the Ennis traffic plan, as compiled by consultants for the then Ennis Urban District Council, was the provision of a relief road to the east of Ennis town centre. This inner relief road would provide much improved access between the main northern and southern areas of the town centre from the east side, which would considerably ease town centre congestion. That was in 1985. Not only has the population of County Clare reached more than 103,000, Ennis has grown into a modern, urban town with a population of more than 20,000. In 1997, Ennis was selected as the information age town.
Despite all these achievements, daily town congestion is part of everyday life. Vehicle numbers have increased on average by 75% throughout the town centre network. The town has also expanded significantly. A shopping centre has transformed the centre of Ennis and created part of the Ennis relief road. To the eastward side there has been large-scale commercial and other developments with auxiliary parking facilities.
In 1997, a traffic review confirmed the recommendations of the 1985 plan and outlined the urgent need for the provision and completion of the eastern inner relief road. The road is also a major objective in the current Ennis and its environs development plan, as in the previous plan. The proposed project, when completed, will consist of four separate sections. Two of these have already been completed from internal council resources and developer-led construction, as I outlined earlier. Parts of the other two sections have been constructed and the compulsory purchase orders relating to the unconstructed elements have been approved. Arbitration procedures have progressed with a view to finalising compensation due to property owners, which includes residential and business interests, and final resolution in this regard is imminent.
Given the nature of the existing land uses, costs associated with compensation to property owners will be far greater than actual construction costs. Taking this into account, the current estimated cost of the completion of the project as proposed is €3.5 million. Given the locations of the interchanges and junctions between the proposed Ennis bypass and the existing roads infrastructure, specifically at the Tulla Road, the need for completion of the remaining section is critical. If the relief road is not available to absorb this additional pressure, some of the many positive impacts of the Ennis bypass will be counteracted to some degree by virtue of increased congestion on the eastern side of the town centre.
In addition to improvements in traffic management and access which will result from the construction of the inner relief road, positive impacts will also result in the context of economic and social development due to the fact that the lands will be available for new development, which will reinforce the commercial centre of Ennis. The development of new commercial property is imperative in Ennis due to the dormitory nature of the town and the rapidly increasing residential population. In addition, the designation of Ennis as a hub town under the national spatial strategy reinforces the strategic importance of infrastructural development to accommodate future growth.
To date, no funding has been forthcoming from any external source and the considerable progress made to date has been achieved by the council working in partnership with private developers and through expenditure of funding drawn from their own resources. Given the locations and envisaged costs associated with the outstanding elements to which I referred, its completion is outside the financial capacity of the council. Unless most of, if not all, the funding can be provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, it will not proceed. EU co-financed grants have been applied for on many occasions, but the applications have been unsuccessful because the level of funding is small in the context of projects such as the inner relief road. The total allocation for County Clare in 2003 was €2.4 million, and more than 20 applications had to be considered. Unless there is a substantial increase in the EU co-financed grants allocation for Clare, this approach is impractical.
The other factor which prohibits the type of funding is the criteria associated with EU co-financed schemes which require that not more than 10% can be expended on land or on compensation to property owners. Much of the cost of the provision of the Ennis relief road will be absorbed through such land acquisition and compensation payments.
It is critical that the Minister's Department provides adequate and realistic funding as compensation for land acquisition is approximately €1.5 million and will have to be paid when the arbitration is decided. The survival of the commercial heart of the town of Ennis is at stake and I earnestly ask the Minister to consider this proposal in the interests of the town.
