Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East Anne Rabbitte has described as “disgraceful” confirmation that the N65 Galway to Rosslare road will not be granted funding for essential improvement and upgrade works.
Deputy Rabbitte commented, “I have consistently highlighted very serious problems with large stretches of this road, particularly between Kilmeen Cross and Portumna. This is the main road linking Galway and Rosslare, and the gateway from the West to the Midlands. More than 4,000 cars cross the bridge in Portumna every day, where the road surface is badly in need of repair, and is considered an accident blackspot. Despite this Galway County Council has been starved of funding for upgrade works.
“I wrote to the Minister for Transport to establish whether money could be made available to carry out essential works to improve the safety of these stretches of road. My query was referred on to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) which has now confirmed that no funding will be allocated until after 2021. This is an outrage.
“The N65 was not included in the Government’s Capital Investment Plan, which was published late last year and now it’s being claimed that no other funding can be sourced. TII says “there is no scope to undertake major improvement works on the network, other than those specified in the capital investment plan”. Effectively this means the N65 has been overlooked once again.
“Portumna is consistently having to play catch-up when it comes to investment – and this is another example of the town and its surrounding areas being shunted to the bottom of the pile. I am calling on Minister Ross to re-examine the current allocation of funding under the Capital Investment Plan to see if money for these essential works can be found”.
