Mattie McGrath urges urgent funding for N24 Waterford to Care

The announcement from Minister O'Brien's department of transport regarding the TII national roads allocation for 2026 is expected actually next week. I rise today to urge you to prioritise the N24 Waterford to Care project, an essential piece of infrastructure in Tipperary, Waterford and indeed Kilkenny and the whole South East region. We have just endured one of the worst years regarding Fidelities nationwide. On the N24 and Tipperary alone, 65 kilometres of roadway, just 1% of our county's road network accounts for 25% of our road deaths. That is a shocking statistic. 1% of the network causing a quarter of our fatalities. Duality alone demands immediate intervention. And one fatality is one too many. We sympathise with all the families. This appeal comes not just from me, but with the backing of our Oxus members across the three counties. Over the past 20 years, 10.7 million public money has been spent already, bringing this scoping and assessments and everything else. Without sufficient allocation from TII this year, that investment is going to be wasted and the project will stall yet again. While last year's National Development Plan, sectorial plan, included a welcome commitment to progressing this project, it is now time to turn commitment to delivery, Taoiseach. Kilkenny County Council is the lead authority, but the N24 is a lifeline for the entire region. Connecting Waterford and Limerick, the ports of Fynes with the port of Ross Lear, and supporting thousands of daily commuters, freight users and local communities, I also want to acknowledge the ongoing work of the Raleigh County Council road section, including Liam Brett and John Nolan and their colleagues. Three million is urgently required this month from your department to prevent the project from collapsing. We cannot allow the N24 to be shelved again, as it was in 2002 and indeed in 2012. If funding is withheld in 2026, it could take more than a decade to return to the current stage of readiness. Surveys, route options and the preferred transfer solution have all been completed at taxpayers' expense. The preferred route proposes a 38% offline and 52% online upgrade. While I have my own concerns about elements of this near Clonmel and Kilkenny, and indeed in Naka near Clare, they can be reviewed when the scheme progresses to our Commission Penola. We simply cannot afford to lose this project again. We must remember the human impact here. Seven families and landowners also face land being sterilised, some threaten that the house has been demolished, and they are stressed also. So it needs to come to an end. A 49 million over the next three to four years will bring the project through the statutory planning process. The existing contracts will consult as they expire on April 11th. So funding is time-credited. Delivering the first three mills next week is vital. Thank you, Deputy Tisha. First of all, Deputy, thank you for raising this issue. May I also welcome the CIE workers. They may be gone now, are they? Give them my own background. But, Deputy McGarr, I think the N24, you said the Minister has announced... Sorry? Yeah, next week, yeah. And in terms of the importance, first of all, of road infrastructure, I couldn't agree with you more. The primary objective, I would always argue, was road safety. When we did the motorways and so on, that also did contribute to the reduction of road fatalities and injuries on our roads. So we have no issue there. And I will talk to the Minister and ask him what his plans are for the N24. You're saying that a lot of money has been spent already, and that about nine million would get it through the statutory process over the next number of years. As I said, I will engage with the Minister in respect of that. And the human impact is key, but also, as you say, economically it would be very important in terms of people, mobility, tourism, freight, movement of goods and services. Extremely important. Kilkenny County Council, the lead council, I think you said, yeah. And we will engage with the County Council in respect of this. I don't have the full programme in front of me. I'm not in the position to outline what the specific details of that programme of funding that the Minister will announce. I also would note your praise of the officials in Tipperary County Council. Clearly, you have a very positive and constructive relationship with them in terms of roads and so on like that. And what I will say to you is that my own view on these matters is these roads have to be done. Therefore, anything we can do to get them through the statutory process, we should do, because otherwise they can go on and on forever. At least if you get to the planning permission stage, you know, you have a clear map ahead of you. Very often a lot of the delays are in the design stage and in the planning permitting stage of a project. So I will talk to the Minister and see what we can do in regard to this. Deputy McGrath. Deputy McGrath. Deputy McGrath, thank you for your planning. Yes, 3 billion this year is vital, otherwise the contracts end this coming 11th of April and the work stops. I've run long enough to notice it was halted in 2002 and 2012. After huge inconvenience and angst among the landowners and the property owners along with land being sterilised, the white corridors, now that's reduced, thank you all. But there are still landowners in the line and there is a proposal to do the line, as I said, some off-road and some on-road. So it's vital, and the Kilkenny Council have made a presentation to all the Rocklist members in the area to keep this alive. Otherwise, if it's shelved again, it'll be another 10 years. And, you know, at least if it's shovel ready and it's going to Port Penawla, sorry, it's shovel ready, go to Port Penawla and progress is there, it's kept alive. It's too important for the daily lives. Safety, you mentioned, and I welcome that. Look, the carnage, imagine that amount of deaths on 1% of our roads in Tipperary. It tells its own story. And I know I've been involved with some of the families that had the penalties there. It's a terrible road. And it's hugely important that actually, from the fine sport down to Rossdale, the trucks and Tipperary Town, of course, has had to bypass it as well. So it's badly, badly needed to keep this project alive. Thank you, Deputy. T-Shot can respond. Well, first of all, Deputy, I'm hearing you loud and clear in terms of keeping the project alive. As I said earlier, I think we should try and progress projects as far as we possibly can. There's not endless sums of money for every road project in the country at the one time. But we can progress projects. And I will talk to the Minister in respect of this and see what the pressure on him is and what he's in a position to do. But certainly, we hear you loud and clear.