THE long-awaited Carrigaline Western Relief Road will not receive funding for construction from the Government until after 2021, according to Transport Minister Shane Ross.

Responding to a parliamentary question from TD Michael McGrath, Mr Ross said the there is no money available to progress the project from the design stage to construction.

“Under the Strategic Grant Scheme, my Department gave a commitment in 2010 to provide grant assistance to Cork County Council in relation to the acquisition of land for the Carrigaline Western Relief Road.

“The commitment to part fund land acquisition on this road has been met but no grant commitment was given in relation to the construction of the road,” said Mr Ross.

“For now funding will largely continue to support the maintenance of the regional and local road network. While a limited number of improvement projects are scheduled to go ahead over the next few years, funding is not available to commit to additional schemes at this point.

“My Department is, however, liaising with Cork County Council with a view to positioning the project for development in the post-2021 period,” he added.

Carrigaline based Councillor Seamus McGrath (FF) said waiting until 2021 is not good enough due to increased traffic levels in the town.

“We are not going to accept that timeline and TD Michael McGrath has raised it with Minister of Finance Paschal Donohue,” he said.

“Cork County Council has shown commitment to the project and is exploring borrowing money for some infrastructure projects but the engineers say the sod could be turned in early 2019 on the project. So, we will continue to push for national funding,” he added.

John A. Collins (FG) said he is “disappointed” but other measures can be taken to reduce congestion.

”I think it’s important but I think Carrigaline’s problems would best be served by the construction of the motorway to Ringaskiddy.

“The traffic problems at the moment could be eased by widening the Bothar Guidel What will solve a lot of Carrigaline’s problems is the M28 motorway. A lot of Carrigaline’s traffic comes from the volume of cars that are using Carr’s Hill, heading down into the town,” he added.