Limerick’s Minister Patrick O’Donovan has said that he expects the Government to give the green light to the next stage of the new Limerick to Foynes road, which includes a bypass of Adare, at today’s Cabinet Meeting.
“As Minister in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which is the key Department in the delivery of large-scale projects of this nature, I have been pushing for progress on this road. I insisted that it should be included, and it was included, in Project Ireland 2040 when my Department published the National Development Plan, together with the list of projects that would be going ahead.”
“I have been working on this as a Government TD for Co. Limerick since 2011 when I was first elected to the Dáil. In that time, I brought former Transport Ministers, Leo Varadkar and Paschal Donohoe to Limerick to show them the need for the road project to be advanced. Since then I’ve used my position as a Minister in both the Departments of Transport and Public Expenditure to push this forward, and this decision is another big step.”
Patrick O’Donovan thanked both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure, who he said have been critical to moving the process forward to this stage.
Limerick City and County Council will receive approval from the Government to go ahead and lodge the planning application to An Bord Pleannála, which Minister O’Donovan pointed out is an independent statutory process.
“Agreeing to move the project to this stage is hugely important as it sends a very clear signal that once the planning process is concluded, this Government led by Fine Gael, is committed to the project. We are the first Government that have clearly laid out the importance of linking the deep-water port at Foynes to the national motorway network, while also providing a bypass of Adare are clear national priorities for us, so moving it forward is very significant.”
Minister O’Donovan sounded a note of caution when he said that opposition parties had criticised and opposed Project Ireland 2040 which included this road. “The National Development Plan and the list of projects which this Government want to advance has been heavily criticised by the Opposition. My priority is to get this project, and others in the Mid-West which have been criticised by the Opposition, advanced.
“Getting this project to this step is a very important milestone for me and getting the Government to this stage is vital. I look forward now to the Limerick to Foynes project progressing to enter the independent planning process, which I hope will give clarity, and when completed we will finally see a start on this road.”