'People's lives on hold' due to stalling of N24 Cahir to Waterford project, council meeting hears

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District has written to the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure calling on them to sanction the funding needed to complete the design of the upgraded N24 route between Cahir and Waterford.

A motion calling on Carrick Municipal District to write to Ministers Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe was unanimously supported by the district’s five councillors at the last monthly meeting of their five year term at Carrick Town Hall on Thursday, May 16.

The District’s Cathaoirleach Cllr Kieran Bourke tabled the motion in light of Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s letter rejecting the requests of the Council and chairpersons of three of its municipal districts where this section of the N24 passes through to allocate the funding required to progress the project to the 3rd and 4th stages of design and planning.

An estimated €2.5m is needed to progress the project this year and €7.5m is required in total to complete the design and planning process.

In his letter to Tipperary County Council’s Roads Director Liam Brett, Minister Ryan explained the greater portion of the €5.16bn earmarked in 2021 for new national road projects up to 2030 will only become available in the second half of the decade.

The Minister said this meant there was a “constraint” on the funding available for new road projects this year, though many national road projects will continue to be progressed in 2024.

Due to this funding constraint, Minister Ryan said it was “not possible” to provide an allocation to all new road projects in the National Development Plan in 2024.

But he assured the Council, the “delivery programme for the project will be kept under review for 2025 and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to Transport Infrastructure Ireland”.

Cllr Bourke’s motion effectively sought to go over Minister Ryan’s head and appeal to Ministers McGrath and Donohoe to reverse the Transport Minister’s decision.

The councillors want the next two phases of the design and planning of this 60km section of N24 concluded to prevent the waste of significant public funds already invested in the project.

Cllr Bourke reminded his fellow Carrick MD councillors that many people’s lives are on hold at the moment because their property is located within the Preferred Transport Corridor for the new N24 route between Cahir and Waterford, and the completion of the route design process is stalled.

The Carrick-on-Suir councillor said he knew of one couple whose home is earmarked to be demolished as it’s within the proposed route corridor.

“Their lives are on hold; they don’t know if they are coming or going,” he declared.

So too were farmers who owned land within the corridor and people promised sites from their families to build a home but can’t get planning permission because the land is sterilised as it’s within the corridor.

Fellow Carrick-on-Suir Cllr David Dunne, who seconded the motion, reminded councillors that previous investment in devising a route for the upgraded N24 between Cahir and Waterford was lost when the funding wasn’t forthcoming to progress and complete the design process.

“It would be reckless to do it twice, to see all the money now wasted because of lack of funding to finish the project. To me it would be a mortal sin if that was allowed to happen,” he declared.

Fine Gael Cllr Mark Fitzgerald agreed. “Everyone hates waste.

“It would be a complete waste of money to get the route design to this stage and it didn't go any further,” he said.