Cork East Fianna Fáil TD James O'Connor has said that he has received commitments from the Taoiseach, the Minister for Public Expenditure and the Minister for Transport that major road projects in his constituency will go ahead despite not being individually referenced in the National Development Plan (NDP).
Earlier this week Mr O’Connor threatened to resign the party whip after he said he felt he had been misled. The Fianna Fáil TD told local radio station C103 that he was led to believe that the road projects would be included in the NDP.
Mr O'Connor met with Micheál Martin, Michael McGrath and Eamon Ryan on Thursday to discuss his "significant concerns" about the NDP and specifically the road projects in his own constituency.
The issue of bypasses for Castlemartyr and Killeigh urgently needed to be addressed, he said, and he received commitments that the Government would give their “full support” for the projects. The situation had changed since Sunday night when he was first informed that the road projects would not be included in the NDP, he said.
“The process will be initiated. It will take a number of years. The good news is that this project will be initiated.”
The project was “extremely important” to the people of East Cork, he added.
When asked if he had been serious about his threat to resign the party whip on the issue, Mr O’Connor said that he would not make such a statement unless he was serious. “This is the issue that I fought my general election campaign on.” He had a mandate from the people he represented “to get this issue resolved”.
Mr O’Connor said he wanted to work “in good faith” with his colleagues. This had been “an extremely serious situation”.
Mr Ryan said earlier this week that there was no guarantee every road project listed in the NDP would go ahead, raising hackles from Opposition parties.
Further questions have been raised about the status of the plan after another Government minister said projects that were excluded from the NDP could still go ahead.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told the Dáil on Tuesday that if a project was not in the NDP that “does that mean it is not going to be built or it’s not going to happen”.
Following Thursday’s meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ryan and Mr McGrath, Mr O’Connor announced on Facebook that “the Castlemartyr/Killeagh N25 will receive full backing from Government to progress”.
He said he also raised the Fota Road and N73 funding with his senior Government colleagues “and I will be engaging further with the Minister for Transport and Government on these important matters”.
Mr O’Connor added: “I want to thank those who have supported me during the past number of days and for your kind messages of support. I am deeply grateful to continue to represent you in Dáil Éireann.”
