Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 June 2023
17. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Transport if he will move to build the Adare bypass now that judicial reviews will not be taking place; if he will provide details of costs of all stages of the project and estimated timelines for these; if he recognises the difficulty for socioeconomic activity that the lack of this infrastructure causes in the mid-west and south-west regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30100/23]
View answerAs Minister, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, 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.
With regard to the Limerick to Foynes Project, in addition to providing a much-needed bypass of Adare, it will also serve to connect the Port of Foynes to the motorway network. Following Government approval to proceed to planning, the scheme was published in December 2019 with An Bord Pleanála approval secured in August 2022. Following this, three requests for judicial review were submitted to the High Court and Leave to Appeal was granted to all three.
In recent days the three applications for Judicial Review which were before the courts have been settled. This is a welcome development, and Departmental officials and TII are now examining the implications for the delivery of this project, both in terms of cost and in time. The next step for the project will be approval of the procurement strategy and project brief at Decision Gate 2 of the Public Spending Code.
€2 million in funding was allocated to Limerick City and County Council for this project in 2023. As with all national roads projects included in the NDP, the delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for 2024. This will include consideration of all developments in relation to the project, including the settlement of these legal matters.
