Mattie McGrath criticises TII funding cut for N24 design
Mattie McGrath criticised the TII's reduced funding for the N24 project in Tipperary Town, saying only one-third of the required funding was provided this year. He said the shortfall will prevent completion of final design work on the Lima Junction to CAIR link and is a serious blow to the scheme.
Project and design status
The N24 project for Tipperary Town and the Lima Junction to CAIR link is at an advanced stage of design by Arab consultants. McGrath said the council needs the remaining funding this year to finish the final design and confirm the final route before moving the scheme to the next stage.
Local impact and community reaction
McGrath said Tipperary Town is smothered with traffic and local groups are aghast at the funding cut. He referenced the Tipperary Task Force and Revitalisation Plan and groups such as Jobs for TIP and Mass for TIP, and noted that Councillor Anne-Marie Ryan and others have raised concerns.
Funding shortfall and demand
The speaker said the TII has funded only one-third of the allocation to Tipperary County Council this year and warned that the one million provided will not complete the design. He called for three million in funding this year and accused the department and the minister of effectively blocking progress.
National roads budget context
McGrath cited a national roads budget of roughly €500 million a year, with about half used for maintenance and strengthening and about half for new projects. He said an allocation has been made to the N4 and that money might be reallocated from projects that run behind schedule or budget, but it is too early to make that call now.
Next steps and consequences
He emphasised the urgent need for the remainder of the design funding to avoid a "very, very serious body blow" to the project and to allow the scheme to progress to the next stage once final design and route decisions are complete.
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The N24 project for Tipperary Town is vital, and the link from Lima Junction to CAIR is vital. It is a fairly advanced stage of design by Arab consultants, but shockingly, the TII have only funded one-third of the funding to Tipperary County Council this year to continue final and detailed design. The Tipperary Task Force and Revitalisation Plan, and indeed many groups, Jobs for TIP, Mass for TIP, are aghast at this. Tipperary Town is smothered with traffic, and they cannot live, breathe, or they cannot work. Councillor Anne-Marie Ryan has been in touch with me, and many others. They need the funding this year to continue that vital, conclusive work, to finish the final design and final route, and to move it on to the next stage. This roadblockage at the moment by the TII, lack of funding, is either playing games by Minister Ryan, who does one major project, or whatever it is, but we need the three million funding, not one million as we have got. It will not complete the design at this stage, and it is a very, very serious body blow to the project. There is roughly €500 million a year in the national roads budget. About half goes to maintaining and strengthening the existing roads, about half goes to new projects. It is never the case that we can fully fund every project that we want to in any one year. There has been an allocation made to the N4. What we have decided is that if other road projects run behind schedule or run behind budget during the course of the year, that we might be able to reallocate money from those projects to other projects like the N4, but it is too soon to make that call now. The Deputy Councillor. The we have taken that off with the information that does not include the race independent put non this whole note. The that it is just meant that we can't look out at the housing side.
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