An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe have marked the first full year of Project Ireland 2040 by announcing a step forward for the M20 Cork to Limerick motorway.

So that’s Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

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.

The gulf in planned development between Cork and Kerry is highlighted by the number of mentions each county gets in both the national development plan (NDP) and the longer term Project Ireland 2040.

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.

The representative body for Ireland’s engineers has called for the establishment of a single unit tasked with the development of the nation’s infrastructure which, it says, will expedite the building of projects such as the Metro North and M20 Cork-Limerick motorway.

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The Government is planning to announce a 10-year capital spending plan worth in excess of €20bn, or €2bn a year, which is set to deliver major projects like the long-awaited Cork to Limerick motorway.

Imagine the scene: You’re the government official tasked with attracting foreign direct investment into the Cork and Limerick region. You collect a team of executives from a global US tech firm at Cork or Shannon Airport. They are interested in locating their European head office in the Munster region.

The couple who became the latest to die on one of the country’s most notorious roads have been remembered as active members of their community.

Government research shows the benefits of the proposed Cork to Limerick motorway would outweigh the costs by two to one, despite Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe’s claims that the project is “too expensive”.

The upcoming budget offers the Government the opportunity to deliver a range of reforms that encourage entrepreneurship and ease the burden on hard-pressed workers.

Michael Noonan is being urged to spend big on transport, schools and telecoms to help close the gap between the roaring Dublin economy and less vibrant regions.

The Government will focus major road spending on projects which can support economic recovery, the transport minister has said.

Pressure is mounting on Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe to prioritise the multi-million upgrade of the vital N28 artery linking Cork and the city’s sprawling port operations in Ringaskiddy.

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.

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.

Ireland is looking forward to an average increase in demand for high-level ICT skills of around 5% a year out to 2018, with the employment of IT professionals anticipated to rise to just over 91,000, according to a Brightwater Recruitment survey.

At least one person has been injured in a serious road crash in Co Kildare this morning.

Thousands of jobs on hundreds of “shovel-ready” infrastructural projects could be created, if the Government secures agreement on an EU stimulus package, it has been claimed.

The Construction Industry Federation has said hundreds of projects around the country could be given the go-ahead immediately if the Government secures agreement on an EU stimulus package.

The M7 Dublin-Limerick motorway is closed southbound between Junction 24 Toomevara and Junction 25 Nenagh this afternoon due to a fire in the area.

UP TO 10 vehicles were involved in a mid-morning pile-up on the Dublin to Limerick motorway outside Portlaoise yesterday.

Work will begin on the long-awaited M20 Cork to Limerick motorway this year, despite Cork’s national roads funding being slashed.

DESPITE the doom and gloom about NAMA and the state of the economy, there was a strong land sale result last Thursday in Roscrea when auctioneer John Walsh sold a fine 164-acre farm at Ballygorteen for €1.56 million.

THE planned N21 bypass of Adare village faces further delays as Limerick County Council has to change the route it opted for four years ago because of recent alterations in national road policy.

A LOCAL authority has been accused by An Bord Pleanála of putting major road developments at risk.

THE Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) says a marketing budget of €10 million a year for five years will be needed for the Shannon region when the mandatory stop-over ends.