Cork County Council members are questioning the cost of a new design for the proposed Cork-Limerick motorway and the likely delay in securing planning, again, for the M20 route.

A €15m contract has been awarded for the design stage of the 100km Cork-Limerick motorway. However, it is unlikely that the planned €900m M20 will be completed before 2027.

Leo Varadkar and the Government have launched a €116bn plan to prepare Ireland for the future following a special Cabinet meeting at the Institute of Technology in Sligo.

The Government is set to ignore expert calls not to build a motorway between Cork and Limerick amid claims its multi-billion euro national framework plan is an electioneering attempt to “give something to everyone” and win over voters.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Limerick/Cork motorway will pass along the route originally envisaged — putting an end to fears the project could be further delayed.

As politicians don the hard hats to announce a slew of capital projects, Kyran Fitzgerald says we can learn from international research how not to repeat the notorious cost overruns of the past.

Executive staff of Cork County Council, backed by elected members, have warned the Government any attempt to re-route a proposed motorway link between Cork and Limerick through Tipperary would be a disaster for the economies of North Cork, Kerry, and West Limerick.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

Here's your morning bulletin.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has suggested the Cork-Limerick motorway could be built as long as tolls are included.

The Government is examining ways of fast-tracking finance for the stalled Cork-Limerick motorway, estimated to cost up to €1bn.

A blueprint given to the Government for future growth in Cork has forecasted the population of the city and county will increase from 542,000 to 846,000 by 2050 and has warned significant infrastructure investment will be needed to support this.

Work will not commence on a Macroom bypass or new Cork-Ringaskiddy road until at least 2022, as priority is being given to upgrading the Dunkettle/Jack Lynch Tunnel interchange.

Repair work is nearly complete on the “worst” street surface in Ireland, in Buttevant town. And motorists using the main Cork-Limerick road will soon not have the frustration of waiting in long queues at roadworks.

The proposed Cork-Limerick M20 motorway would not only recoup the State’s investment but double it if the project was given the green light, the Government’s original research shows.

The chief executive of Munster Rugby has criticised the Government for failing to fund the most urgently needed road connection in the country, and says the oversight will damage the regional economy.

A man who uses a wheelchair was left alone on a locked train in Dublin as no staff were available, Ian Bailey has been ordered to pay his full court costs, an Irish Examiner poll has reveals 94% of readers think the Government need to invest in a Limerick - Cork motorway and Villa's rising star Jack Grealish rejects a first senior Republic of Ireland call-up. Here's this evening’s irishexaminer.com catch-up.

An Irish Examiner poll has revealed that 94% of readers would like the Government to invest in a motorway between Limerick and Cork.

The Government is not taking advantage of the historically low cost of financing to deliver economically and socially critical infrastructure projects such as the proposed Cork to Limerick motorway, the country’s business representative body has claimed.

Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has told the NRA it can’t reactivate planning permission for the M20 (Cork-Limerick motorway) and there’s no money available to build a much-needed northern bypass around Mallow.

One of the country’s leading planning consultants fears Mallow’s "hub town" status may be revoked if a quick solution is not found to improving water quality in the River Blackwater.

Dairygold’s recent expansion in Mallow has brought with it fresh hopes that the town will soon see the development of a €25m ring road to alleviate traffic congestion.

It is hoped that the newly appointed minister for transport will speed up stalled work on a much-needed bypass of one of the lastremaining bottlenecked towns in Co Cork.

THE Government has slashed over €10 billion from the planned spend on roads, railways, schools and other infrastructure for the next five years.

A COMMUNITY which fought long and hard for a motorway connection is about to see “all its dreams come true” next Monday when plans for a junction connection are unveiled.

A BATTLING community has expressed increased confidence it will get a connection to a proposed €800 million motorway.

TAXPAYERS could save €250 million building a much shorter motorway which would link Limerick and Cork, a Bord Pleanála oral hearing has been told.

ACCORDING to Eileen McCarthy of Arup (Irish Examiner, July 9), the Cork-Limerick motorway will save 70 lives over a 30-year period, based on 35 fatalities in 20 years on the roads which it would replace. But this simplistic calculation works out to 52.5 lives saved, not 70, and assumes no one will be killed on the motorway.

THE planned new €800 million M20 will become the first motorway in Ireland to be barn owl-friendly.

CLAIMS have been made that drivers will not use a proposed new motorway service station because it was too close to Cork city.

The future of a Cork town may depend on a link to the M20, writes Sean O’Riordan

WITH just under €1 billion allocated for buying up land for the Cork-Limerick motorway, what price for this land at Ballyviniter, Mallow?