Poor roads ‘discourage travel’

A POOR road network is discouraging people from travelling from Dublin to the rest of the country, the Irish Hotels Federation conference was told yesterday.

IHF president Jim Murphy called on the Government to fast-track the upgrading of inter-city road networks, commenting that the state of our roads was abysmal compared to other EU countries. The upgrading of routes such as Dublin to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford to dual carriageway status was imperative, he said.

The lack of a modern road system was a fundamental barrier impeding tourism growth potential, he continues.

Mr Murphy said people should know from the start of their journey how long it would take to reach their destination.

All measures, including public private partnerships, should be considered to give impetus to road construction plans. It took some conference delegates seven hours to drive from Dublin to Killarney and the aim should be to reduce the journey to four hours, travelling at an average of 50 mph.

“Taking a journey from Dublin to other regions is frustrating for all travellers and particularly damages our tourists’ enjoyment of their stay in Ireland,” said Mr Murphy.

Ongoing congestion and a vast array of different road standards combined to discourage people from travelling to the regions.

“It is deplorable that millions of tourists arrive in Ireland by sea and air efficiently and safely, only to find that when they leave the ferry terminal, or airport, they will have an inordinately long journey time to reach their final destination,” said Mr Murphy.

“Indeed, the probability of them getting lost for another couple of hours, given our disjointed signage throughout the country, is quite high also.”