Greens: Let’s consider all options on Cork to Limerick motorway ...

THE Green Party has urged any future government to look at all options for the proposed Cork-Limerick motorway, including routing it via Mitchelstown rather than via Mallow which, they say, would lead to substantial savings

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it made sense to look at all four proposed options, including three using the existing M8, which goes via Mitchelstown rather than automatically assuming a route via Mallow was the best solution.

Cork County Council has come out and strongly backed the western option which would involve construction of a motorway around Mallow, Buttevant and Charleville, but Mr Ryan was more circumspect during a visit to Cork.

It emerged last week that the original estimate for the cost of the Mallowfrom Mallow and surrounding parts of north Cork would want a motorway there,” he said

But he accused Fine Gael of misleading the public into thinking that a motorway along the N20 is “shovel ready”, when they know a new route selection process is underway and are considering different options.

“Fine Gael are allowing the public to believe a plan that the Taoiseach rejected in 2011, when he was Minister for Transport, is the sole plan right now – it’s cynical and unfair to the people who rely on this road to name it the ‘M20’.”

Speaking at a Fine Gael rally in Ballincollig on Friday night, Mr Varadkar said the party was committed to upgrading the N20 to a motorway to help improve connectivity between Cork and Limerick as a counterbalance to Dublin.