Minister urged to approve full funding allocation for Mallow Relief Road

THE minister for transport is being urged to approve the full funding allocation for the Mallow Relief Road.

It was announced last February that the N72/N73 Mallow Relief Road had been allocated €300,000 by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) under the 2024 grant allocations for national roads, active travel, and greenways.

The preferred route option for the scheme was identified last year and a public consultation took place.

Last month, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said in the Dáil that the recent allocation of €300,000 for the Mallow Relief Road will enable the project to progress through the planning and design stages.

He said it is hoped to bring the relief road to planning at some stage next year.

However, speaking in the Dáil during a debate on road safety in recent days, Cork East TD Seán Sherlock said the €300,000 allocation was “just simply not credible”.

“I want to speak first on the investment in local regional and national secondary roads, specifically in regard to the town of Mallow, where €300,000 has been allocated to progress the northern relief road,” he said.

“I know the minister of state met with the Mayor of County Cork and senior officials of Cork County Council recently, where they made the case for the full allocation of approximately €1m-plus to be made to progress that plan to the planning application stage,” he said.

“My colleague, Councillor Eoghan Kenny, received correspondence from the minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, last week to say that the €300,000 allocated should be enough to progress that project to the planning stage.

“If the minister of state, Deputy Chambers, is talking to the minister, Deputy Ryan, he might tell him that it will cost €500,000 for an environmental impact assessment alone,” the Cork TD continued.

Mr Sherlock said that to state that it is going to cost €300,000 to get the project to planning “is not a credible answer”.

Mr Sherlock told the Dáil: “We are asking for the €1m-plus to at least allow us to get to the planning stage.”