€500m extra per year boosts Cork-Limerick motorway hopes

Because of plans to increase investment in national infrastructure by €500m each year, between 2019 and 2021, the M20 motorway, between Cork and Limerick, is a step closer to happening, the two city’s business leaders said last night.

However, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) warned that delaying the planned increases until 2019 could consign many of Ireland’s regions to a decade of lost growth, with Dublin continuing to be congested.

It follows the publication yesterday, by Finance Minister Paschal Donohue, of the Government’s summer economic statement. There will be a €1.2bn fiscal space next year, with a commitment to increase capital investment by an additional €500m in each of the years from 2019 to 2021.