The Government’s infrastructure plan is devoid of action with no new ambition but rather it slightly alters existing systems and has little in the way of new ideas. The State has crumbling infrastructure, a housing crisis compounded by the failures of successive housing Ministers and a planning system that is not fit for purpose. In the mid-west, many infrastructure projects have been glacially slow to deliver. In Limerick, we have the Coonagh-Knockalisheen road. It took over many years before work commenced on this project. The Minister of the day was determined to stop this road and without the intervention of the people of Moyross and others, it would not have been constructed. Once finally constructed and completed, it will serve as an important artery that will unlock economic, employment and educational opportunities in the area. Functioning infrastructure is crucial to economic development and to a better quality of life. The plan notes that the transport infrastructure deficit gives rise to hours lost to congestion. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Mackey roundabout on the outskirts of Limerick. The northern distributor road is therefore crucial to the development of Limerick city. The construction of the northern distributor road would remove vast amounts of traffic from the city and would provide a link from the residential areas on the northside of the city to the University of Limerick and its surrounding industrial estates. It would also address the issues at the Mackey roundabout, which is a crucial connection point for those looking to access the M7 and for those coming off the M7 and going to work in the University of Limerick and adjacent industrial estates. On weekday mornings and evenings, it is gridlocked with motorists who, in frustration, sometimes take risks and put their lives in danger as they look to exit the roundabout. You can see cars backed up trying to exit the M7 at the Mackey Roundabout and in other areas in Ballysimon as well. The northern distributor road would address most of these issues. On bus infrastructure, the Condell road in Limerick is a road that was built in Limerick city. It is a fine piece of road and has had a bus lane for a huge number of years. When I was on Limerick City Council, a bus lane was delivered, yet there is no bus service. You would struggle to find nonsense like this anywhere else in the world where you have a road with a bus lane but no bus. In past number of years, hundreds of houses have been built in the area, many of them social and affordable houses, but there is no bus stop. A simple solution would to be reroute an existing bus service to service the road instead of having to wait for BusConnects which could be years. We now have many people there in hundreds of home without cars and no accessible public transport. This needs to be sorted.

Sentiment score: -0.06