Last week in the Dail, Liz McManus called on the transport minister, Noel Dempsey, to extend the planned Leinster Orbital Route to South Wicklow.

Liz McManus said : “I am concerned that Wicklow and the South East region will lose out if the orbital route which extends to Dundalk, Navan ending at Naas. This outer orbital route is at an early stage of planning and I am asking the Minister to extend it from Naas to connect with the N11.

It makes no sense to only part-plan it by ending the route at Naas to the detriment of the South East. It is bad news for Wicklow and Wexford and generally puts our region at a disadvantage.

In the Dail today I also urged the Minister to pursue the vital upgrade to the N11 from the Tap to the Beehive pubs which is a major accident blackspot.”

The Dail exchange went as follows:

Deputy Noel Dempsey: Both Transport 21 and the national development plan committed the NRA to carrying out a feasibility study on the orbital route. Earlier this year, the NRA completed an updated feasibility study which built on a 2001 study which considered, in particular, the costs and benefits of such a route. The updated NRA study finds that there is merit in constructing an orbital route linking Drogheda, Navan and Naas. As part of the study, various possible route corridors were examined in detail. A corridor linking Drogheda to Navan to Naas was identified as the optimum route having regard to the policy objectives set out in the various policy documents on the route. There are no plans to extend the route through the Wicklow Mountains to Arklow or Gorey.

Neither Transport 21 nor the national development plan provide any funding for the scheme to be brought through planning and preliminary design or to construction in the period to 2015. The study is under detailed consideration within my Department.

Deputy Liz McManus:  Does the Minister not appreciate that there is considerable concern in Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow at the Government proposal for an outer orbital route that does not complete the orbit but ends at Naas?

The south east has already experienced certain difficulties in economic development and employment. Does the Minister agree that this area would lose out badly if it is not included in this major infrastructural development?Will he reconsider the exclusion of the last leg of the orbital? Will the Government accept in principle that there is an issue for the south east and that it is important that a connection be made to the N11? Will the Minister talk to people in the NRA about the very dangerous section of the N11 between The Tap pub and The Beehive pub? This section will take more lives unless action is taken to upgrade it.

Deputy Noel Dempsey: The Government is not proposing this outer orbital yet. It is for consideration in the programme for Government. The report commissioned by the NRA is still under consideration. Any proposal that comes forward will be from the NRA, and it would then have to be accepted by the Government.

I think the Deputy recognises the reason the route is as such is largely due to the technical difficulties in trying to get through the barrier of the Wicklow mountains. I do not accept that if the outer orbital is provided and the remaining leg is left out, this will cause a major disadvantage to the south east in terms of roads. There will be two major routes to the south east along the east coast and to Waterford. The south east will be well served by a good road network. The other part of the equation, but slightly further back in planning, is the study on what was always called the eastern bypass. The bypass would continue from the port tunnel and would be another major advantage to County Wicklow. Both of these will be looked at together. Wicklow will not lose out as a result of decisions that were taken.

I acknowledge what the Deputy said about the N11. We have had much correspondence from almost every Deputy and councillor from Wicklow on this issue. I have taken it on board and I have raised the issue with the NRA. It is dangerous and about €27 million has been spent on it, but it would be desirable if we could move it forward very quickly.

Deputy Liz McManus: I appreciate that, but I urge the Minister to keep dealing with that issue which is so fundamentally important. I ask him not to exclude the last leg of the outer orbital on the basis that the Wicklow mountains are in the way. It has been proposed that the road could skirt the southern end of the mountains, but if that does not happen, the south east of Ireland will be at a great disadvantage. There will be no linkage between the N11 and the new Waterford road, which is where the problem lies

A witty correspondent in the Irish Independent letter pages today had this to say…

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has expressed his concerns regarding possible difficulties in finding a route through the Wicklow mountains for the new proposed orbital ring road around Dublin. I would have thought that this would not be a problem to a Fianna Fail-led Government who, in conjunction with the NRA, are currently bulldozing their way through the Gabhra Valley at Tara. Surely anything that got in the way, such as Powerscourt house and gardens or the Monastery at Glendalough, could be easily demolished? Is this the price we have to pay for so called progress?

The problem in Ireland is not so much the lack of roads, it is the overdependence on cars and road transport. This is why our roads are clogged. I see it every day on the N11. The bulk of cars on the road are single passenger. I have no doubt that a large percentage of those single drivers could take public transport and the majority would say “but… I have to go by car – there’s no public transport alternative”. That doesn’t wash with me. I was one of those single passenger idiots for years. I always justified my use of the car by saying there was no good alternative. Truth is, I got lazy. I liked the car, expecially on dark, wet and cold winter mornings. I could adjust the temperature, just as I liked. I could pick my nose, burp, break wind, turn on the radio and laugh at the funny bits out loud. I could walk from my place of work to the car in 2 minutes, shielded from the weather. It was oh so easy and convenient.

I finally had enough of ridiculously early starts in the morning. Having to hit the road by 6.30 just so my journey didn’t turn into a 2 and a half hour, stop start nightmare.  Now, I can snooze on the way to work, read a book, watch a movie on my iPod and just watch the world go by. I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. I guess it’s because as a human being, I’m a creature of habit and habits are hard to break.

How many other creature of habits are out there causing mayhem on the road and texting the radio stations saying they are stuck in traffic? There is nobody to blame but the creatures of habit.