The new National Development Plan 2021-2030

In the case of Sandymount there was plenty of space to mve back the wall on the seaward side to provide a cycle lane of any width desired. There was no need to interfere with a regional road to provide it. The entire project was more about disrupting people going about their business than provided cycle facilities.

As for Galway, a bypass is for people wishing not to go to Galway, so the time take to cycle across Galway is immaterial. The time taken for a truckload of fish to get from Rossaveal to Dublin is a proper measure.

Sadly, there is a privileged minority spouting false analysis who are trying to colonise the country generally.

Anything in Navan would be a relief road or distributor, and at County level. The NDP has commitments to support such roads, especially where they improve the ability of pedestrians to use the town centre, or improve public transport and opportunities to walk or travel by bike.

A new section of distributor road is being built in Navan from the Kentstown Road towards the Boyne. You can also see a reservation beside the cemetery for it to eventually extend across the river to the N51. Navan is probably one of the better planned towns in terms of future expansion.

Isn't that funding pretty much in line with the way things have been progressing anyway? The M21 is due to commence construction in late 2023, the M28 shortly after, its unlikely both will spend €100m before 2025.

The only thing is the Galway Ring Road doesn't fit within that funding before 2025 (possibly not even if was happening on its own, nevermind with other projects going on) but it will likely have legal challenges to deal with, assuming ABP approve it at all.

What other projects could be ready for construction before 2025, Slane and Ardee Bypasses, anything else? Would the Killaloe Bypass be from TII funding given it is a R road?

Does anyone know what those N20 plans are? Lavitt's Quay - West Link Business Park

Well it says "expected to commence in the 2026-2030 period of the NDP" but reading between the lines, they could start earlier if funding is made available. The impression I get from the document is that TII are trying to put some pressure on the government.

There is €10m for Adare Bypass/Foynes which presumably is for CPOs and fencing. You'd hope the FG & FF can get this approved to go to tender despite Ryan. The Ryder Cup will be a big part of that, plus it is a town bypass which Ryan says he is in favour of.

The M28 is also progressing in the backgroundand they will seek approval to proceed to tender at the end of next year. Given the Port of Cork is already moving, I think this will have to be funded as the existing road just can't adequately serve port traffic.

The N/M20 won't be ready for construction this side of 2026 anyway. Once it has planning approval, they should split the project and look to progress sections of it rather than waiting for the whole lot to get funded.

AFAIK its very difficult to adhere to some of the legislation - its written very loosely in legal terms so you can always find an angle to pick away at.

The opposite. Vague legislation allows nuance and interpretation when circumstances change. Our government is based on a system where we elect people to write laws, and if there are problems with the application of those laws later, the judiciary is allowed to refine them.

If you make the law exact and prescriptive (as, for example with minimum sentencing for offences) you remove the ability to judge individual cases on factors that the original lawmakers were not aware of, and that can create injustice.

In the case of the NDP, we could have written it with exact limitations in regard to emissions, for example, but then be hamstrung if, for example, a disaster caused serious damage to of a major motorway, but we didn't have the carbon budget to replace it, as a hard emissions limit would make the repair of this critical piece of infrastructure automatically illegal (and you could bet the likes of FIE would sieze on this to block the construction).

But it's really hard to see how the NDP itself breaks climate commitments, when it actually makes very few firm promises at all.

Interesting to see N25 Midleton-Youghal on that major schemes list (page 10) as "Early Planning".. That's a scheme that many have thought was parked indefinitely. Okay, it's only options development, but good to see it's even on a list.