Castlemartyr bypass will be 'progressed as quickly as possible', says Ryan
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the Castlemartyr bypass 'is one of the specific examples that we do want to accelerate'. Picture: Denis Minihane
The Castlemartyr bypass will be “progressed as quickly as possible” by the Department of Transport, Eamon Ryan has confirmed.
Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East, James O’Connor had sought an update from Mr Ryan about the status of the N25 Midleton to Youghal scheme and specifically the funding of a design consultant.
The Transport Minister told Mr O'Connor that the bypass “is one of the specific examples that we do want to accelerate”.
A spokesperson for Mr Ryan told that the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) road allocations will be released next week, but that he will aim this year to prioritise bypasses of market towns “to bring them back to life, make them people friendly, and take out choking congestion”.
“The consequences for our towns and villages when you have that volume of traffic through the likes of Castlemartyr is disruptive.
“Those projects of providing bypasses for our towns and villages will make them thrive and should get priority over mainline capacity enhancement,” Mr Ryan said.
In May 2022, Cork County Council procured a technical adviser to prepare a Strategic Assessment Report as required by the Public Spending Code, which is used by the Department of Public Expenditure to access major capital expenditure projects.
Mr O’Connor said that TII had confirmed to him that they will seek what is termed “Gate Zero” approval from the Department of Transport during quarter one of this year.
Mr O’Connor says Mr Ryan's confirmation that the bypass will be progressed will allow the project to move forward for approval by the Department of Transport following the completion of the Strategic Assessment Report by Cork County Council.
He said the Government “needs to back up this project with immediate funding so that a design consultant can be appointed and the public can see for themselves the viable route options”.
“The section of national road between Midleton and Youghal is the last remaining bottleneck between Cork and Waterford,” he said.
“This will allow the public and potential bidders for the contract to construct the road and to see what route options are available after which a route selection process will take place.”
The scheme will then move to public consultation where objections can be raised before the project moves to the construction phase when planning has been approved.
Mr O'Connor threatened to leave the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party over the road in October 2021, saying at the time he had been under the impression it would be in the National Development Plan.
He withdrew that threat following an emergency meeting with then-Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr Ryan and then-Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath to resolve the dispute.
“This matter is of huge importance to the people of East Cork and West Waterford who use the N25 on a daily basis. I am glad to see the project continues to progress.”
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