Cork-Limerick motorway will have 'devastating consequences' for farmland, claims group
There has been a lot of opposition to the proposed route of the M20 Cork-Limerick motorway in Ballyhea, Co Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins
A group representing 1,500 people says the Cork-Limerick motorway will have devastating consequences for some of the finest farmland in the country, result in the demolition of 20 homes, and prove extremely costly for the taxpayer.
The Cork-Limerick Alliance Group, which represents farmers, teachers, businessmen, and householders, believes “there are many shortcomings in the current M20 planning that will ultimately result in more negatives than positives for the majority of people who use the road".
That’s according to the group’s chairman Brian Hyde, who said while they support road safety improvements on the route they have a number of concerns about the overall project.
“The Government recently announced its intention to toll the road, which will make travelling on the M20 cost prohibitive for many. This will result in commuters using back roads and the current N20, which will become the 'old road'," Mr Hyde said.
He said short and intra urban journeys account for the vast majority of journeys taken on the existing N20.
“We have been informed there is no plan in place to improve these existing roads when the M20 is built, which means the current issues we have now around safety will remain unresolved, and in our opinion, will just get worse. That is unacceptable,” Mr Hyde said.
He added the enormous cost to the taxpayer “is another big negative".
“The current M20 planning is going to hit people’s pockets in three big ways: The exorbitant cost to build the new road, which is estimated at between €1bn and €3bn; the direct carbon pollution and resulting carbon tax it will inevitably cause given it’s going through many greenfield sites and causing a lot of environmental issues; and lastly the tolls people will have to pay to use the road for every journey, every day,” Mr Hyde said.
He said his group firmly believe there is a far most cost-efficient and less environmentally impactful way to achieve the M20 aims.
“This would be to stay online with the current N20 and upgrade the existing road, to work with what we have, rather than going offline to take hundreds of acres of prime agricultural land in the Golden Vale and devastate family farms in the process.
"It will also take up to 20 homes in the midst of a raging housing crisis, as well as pollute and very negatively impact the Blackwater River,” he said.
The river is designated an SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and the group say building a new bridge across if will cost millions and is not needed.
“What makes far more sense instead is to bypass Charleville and Buttevant, which are the major traffic bottlenecks on the current N20 and to build an overpass between the two roundabouts at Mallow, as the town is already bypassed.
"It would also be delivered in roughly half the time it will take to build the M20. It just makes far more sense on multiple levels,” Mr Hyde said.
It’s unlikely work will start on the project until at least 2028 and the motorway is expected to be open no sooner than 2035.
