Laois 'bypassed' for road investments - Dep Brian Stanley urges Tánaiste to keep promises

The Tánaiste Simon Harris says Laois will get the bypass roads it needs, despite the county getting zero money out of the €24.3 billion announced to be spent in the next five years.

Laois TD Brian Stanley has this week urged the Tánaiste to reconsider Laois to get some of the money announced in the National Development Plan review, speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, November 27.

“A number of bypasses are needed in County Laois but it looks like the whole county was bypassed for funding. The
Tánaiste was down there this week last year, exactly 52 weeks ago, canvassing for the general election. Huge housing developments are needed in Laois. There has been rapid population growth in the county. It has been one of the top three counties in terms of population growth in the last five years. There is huge pent-up demand for housing and for infrastructure, but we cannot have the housing without the infrastructure," he said.

He points to the Mountmellick relief road and the Portlaoise northern orbital route around Fairgreen in particular.

"There is no point projecting huge growth for a county unless the infrastructure goes in along with it. At the moment, with regard to the N80, trucks from the west and everywhere else have to wind their way through the narrow streets of Mountmellick and around the junction at Pearse Street, Patrick Street and the Square, which the Tánaiste saw for himself. In Portlaoise, they have to go in under the railway bridge, which they sometimes get caught under, and in by the roundabout in the centre of the town. The road from the Mountmellick Road across has to be connected with the motorway on the north-eastern side of Portlaoise.

"Now, the local authorities are being asked to zone huge tracts of land. Without it being serviced, this land will be useless. People will have to get in and out by helicopter because there will not be roads. The infrastructure is required, or it will stall these housing projects. It is not possible to build 1,200 or 1,300 houses per year unless these projects go ahead.

"To open up all that land, particularly across the north and west of Portlaoise, the northern orbital route is required. Water services need to be expanded according to Uisce Éireann and the document I have here... shows where they are needed throughout the county.

"Graiguecullen, Borris-in-Ossory, Ballinakill, The Swan and Timahoe need wastewater improvements, while Portarlington, Durrow, Mountrath, Stradbally, Rathdowney and Ballylinan need expansion in water supply. It is critical that we have this
infrastructure for the council and private developers to be able to provide the housing.

"I appeal to the Tánaiste to go back to the drawing board with this. I heard him say there may be other measures to come. There is a list on the back page of this National Development document and, as he knows, when something is not listed on that, it is going to be a battle to do it. I ask the Tánaiste to make sure that happens and that the promises made before the
election are kept," Dep Stanley said in Dái Éireann.

The Tánaiste in reply said that Deputy Willie Aird who he canvassed with in Mountmellick will keep the promise that the then Taoiseach made to prioritise the town's bypass.

"They are promises that Deputy Aird is going to keep and he will work with the Deputy constructively in relation to that as well because we have a lot of work we need to do to deliver for the people of Laois and the midlands. The Deputy makes constructive and fair points. We obviously have to put the infrastructure in place to enable the housing capacity to be delivered.

"The Minister for Transport was at pains to say... that this list is not exhaustive. It lists a number of projects that will be delivered. There will also be an annual Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, capital plan and we expect that plan to come early in the new year.

"There will also be opportunities, specifically in relation to the housing point, to look at how we can work with the likes of the housing activation office.

There will be many further opportunities, including in relation to the TII capital plan. We will work very constructively with Laois Deputies in this House and also with the local authority."

He said money is not what is stopping new water and wastewater connections.

"Capital funding is not now the constraint in relation to Uisce Éireann. We have provided Uisce Éireann with billions of euro in additional funding. The capacity constraint here is the planning and regulatory systems and how we can actually get things done more quickly. I will work constructively in relation to the water and wastewater projects that are needed in Laois.

"I also look forward to next February when the rules change to finally bring a bit of common sense and allow developers on small-scale or relatively small-scale housing developments to put in their own wastewater infrastructure. I believe this will open up huge housing opportunities in many rural towns and villages," the Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Laois TD.

However Laois County Council says that unless Laois roads are placed in the National Development Plan review 2025 - 2030, progress is "unlikely".

Director of Services Simon Walton gave an response to the Leinster Express / Laois Live after the Department of Transport said this week that they should be engaging with the TII.

"Laois County Council made a submission to the review of the National Development Plan, seeking the inclusion of both the N80 Mountmellick By-Pass and the N80 Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route in the updated National Development Plan 2026 to 2030.

"Neither of these Schemes are listed in the Transport Sectoral Investment Plan, recently published.

"Laois County Council will continue to engage with all stakeholders with a view to progress on both Schemes. However, until both are listed as specific objectives in the National Development Plan, meaningful progress is unlikely," Mr Walton said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport, responding to a query on the status of both Laois road plans, had told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the council should engage with Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

"The Sectoral Investment Plan for Transport lists major new national roads projects over €200 million to be advanced to construction over the remainder of the decade. Neither the Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route nor the Mountmellick Bypass are in that category.

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 "There are a number of additional projects listed in the Appendix to the sectoral plan which are to be developed in the coming year, included in which is a Bypass and Relief Road Programme. With regard to the progression of projects such as these, it is important to point out that it is for the local authority (in this case Laois County Council), in the first instance, to engage with TII. Departmental officials and TII will give any proposal for the progression of these projects full consideration.

"All projects, including those listed in the NDP or any revision to the NDP, require statutory approval and compliance with the Infrastructure Guidelines.”