Eamon Ryan refuses to publicly back new N17

MINISTER for Transport, Eamon Ryan, TD has refused to say if he personally supports the upgrade of the N17 from Knock to Collooney.

Speaking to local reporters during a visit to Ballina, Minister Ryan said that public transport and bypasses would be prioritised for funding over new roads.

Local representatives reacted angrily to the suspension of a substantial amount of funding for the new road, which would see a dual carriageway built from Knock to Collooney.

A sum of €400,000 has been allocated by the Department of Transport to honour commitments to the project.

A department spokesperson previously told this newspaper that the suspension was due to a ‘constraint’ in National Development Plan (NDP) funding. This meant that most of the €5.1 billion capital funding earmarked in the plan for new roads would not be available until the end of the decade.

The government has committed to a 2:1 spending ratio on public transport versus roads.

“We’re still spending several hundred thousand this year looking at the project, along with a whole range of other projects. I have about €100 billion of projects in development right across the country,” Minister Ryan replied when asked by The Mayo News if he personally supported the N17 project.

“We have about €35 billion in funding in the next decade and the next eight years in the remaining part of the NDP so I have to look at where is the likely places we will build first.

“Part of that then is what I said very clearly and honestly to a lot of people, and that is we have to really focus on bypasses first, town centre first, bring a bit of life back to the centre of our towns.

“Those sort of projects will be advanced quicker. It’s not that any other project is stopped and never going to happen, but the simple arithmetic of having €35 billion funding €100 billion doesn’t work.

“We should be honest and upfront with people that we do have to prioritise. And we do have to prioritise, in my mind, for public transport, for active travel.”

A Department of Transport spokesperson has said the new N17 is likely to go to route option selection stage before the end of the year.

The road is expected to be 40 kilometres in length and cost €600 million to complete.

Work is not expected to begin on the road until the 2030s.

When asked for a second time if he supported the project, the Green Party leader said all roads agreed in the NDP would be committed to.

“We do have to wear the budgets because, as I said, there’s huge demand on the exchequer in transport as well as other areas; in housing, health and education. I think false promises that everything is going to be good tomorrow wouldn’t serve the people either,” said Minister Ryan.

Elected representatives from Mayo County Council recent held a meeting with Minister Ryan, during which several issues were discussed.

Speaking to The Mayo News, Ballinrobe-based councillor Damien Ryan said he was ‘not in any way satisfied’ with Minister Ryan’s response to questions regarding the N17.

Cllr Ryan added that he was ‘concerned’ over the minister’s lack of commitment to preserving the Claremorris to Sligo section of the line.