Roads funding slashed by Finance Minister

Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy has axed more than 20 road schemes as part of the Government's bid to halt growth in public spending.

Day-to-day spending will increase by just 3 per cent next year, while capital spending is being slashed by 6 per cent or euro 337 million. The biggest loser will be the roads programme under the National Development Plan.
The Book of Estimates for 2003 allows for capital spending of euro 5.3 billion, a drop of more than euro 350 million on this year.

Spending on roads will fall for the first time since 1999. Investment in the roads programme will be cut by euro 100 million, but there will still be a spend of over euro 1 billion.

Mr McCreevy's bombshell has been heavily criticised by the Institute of Engineers in Ireland (IEI. "Our roads infrastructure is creaking at the seams, traffic chaos prevails and the cost in economic and competitiveness terms, and in lives lost in road accidents, is significant," Paddy Purcell of the IEI commented.

In the wake of the cutbacks the axe will fall on more than 20 major road projects. The euro 1 billion to be allocated will be spent on completing the Dublin Port Tunnel, the South Eastern Motorway and the Drogheda and Kildare bypasses amongst other projects already underway.

More than 20 national road schemes that have been cleared by An Bord Pleanala will be shelved.
These include the Ashbourne bypass / M50 junction, Carrickmacross bypass, Monaghan bypass, Carrick-on-Shannon bypass, Sligo Inner relief Road and Monasterevin bypass to name a few.