WATCH: Limerick TD clashes with Transport Minister over key road project

LIMERICK TD Kieran O'Donnell has accused Transport Minister Eamon Ryan of "creating chaos" around a multi-million euro road project.

In February last year, after days of speculation the Coonagh to Knockalsheen road project would be shelved, Mr Ryan confirmed it would go ahead as planned.

This followed widespread campaigning from the people of Moyross, whose estate it will open up, and Limerick's business community.

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Speaking at the Oireachtas transport committee, the Green Party minister claimed he approved the walls which separate the estate on Limerick's northside from the neighbouring communities would be knocked was conditional.

"I said fine, but on one condition, that you open up. That you take down the walls in Moyross that separate it from the rest of the city and communities, and you build the active travel and bus connection between UL, LIT and Mary Immaculate College. Because I believe that would transform the city in three years," he said.

However, Mr O'Donnell, who chairs the committee said: "You are goading. You interfered in the process below in Limerick. You created chaos. The people in Moyross were entitled to it. This route, Coonagh to Knockalisheen. You did everything possible to ensure it didn't go through. It has now gone through, and it is making an enormous difference to people's lives."

Moyross residents had campaigned for the knocking of the divide, which they compared to the former Berlin wall.

Mr O'Donnell said that people in Limerick have been calling for investment in public transport for years and those calls have gone unanswered.

Mr Ryan rejected the assertion that he was goading people, but instead told Deputy O'Donnell that he was passionate about what could be done for Limerick.

"Limerick, she's my lady too," he said earlier in the committee meeting.