Road Network
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-29
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Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

The point the Senator made is that in the short term we have to intervene. He is right and I concur with him in a personal capacity. The timeframe for the delivery of the new Cork-Limerick motorway is long and the timeline is perhaps uncertain. In that sense, we have to work with the residents who are facing real and urgent issues on the road. I thank the Senator for his advocacy. It is not the first time he has raised this matter with me. I commend Councillor Madden, who has been very proactive on this. He is right to articulate travel issues and the risks and the Senator is 100% correct that people take risks on the road. As a consequence, we have had accidents and loss of life. In the overarching scheme of things, Government is committed to the delivery of an upgrade of the N20. It is a key priority with €3.5 million allocated to the project this year, but this is about more than connecting Cork and Limerick. In the short term, we cannot allow the people of Mourneabbey or Burnfort to continue to be afraid or to take a risk in crossing the road. I will sit with the Senator again. I will advocate for this to the Minister, National Transport Authority, TII and Cork County Council to ensure we prioritise it in the short term, because a short-term measure is needed. Anybody who does analysis of roads will recognise this road is critically important but also that it is very dangerous. I commend the Senator on raising it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29