Following on from the opening of the M11 Arklow/Rathnew bypass, Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow Andrew Doyle, has welcomed the allocation of an additional €548,950 for local roads in Wicklow. This forms part of an additional €100 million investment in Transport Tourism and Sport, of which €34 million nationally is going towards maintaining and maintaining and strengthening our national, regional and local roads network with €60 million going towards public transport.
“Infrastructure is pivotal to economic success and is vitally important in Wicklow, given our varied landscape throughout the County which is so central to our tourism sector. Since the economic collapse, there has been under investment in roads and public transport. With the economy recovering, there is now scope to increase funding and to reinvest in this critical infrastructure.
“An additional €4.2 million will be allocated nationally to tourism related projects, including further development of Ireland’s Ancient East Corridor, that Wicklow is part of, and the Wild Atlantic Way. Indeed this is very welcome news as the total overseas trips to Ireland for the first six months of 2015 were up by 12% on the corresponding period in 2014.
“As we build on the progress we have been making in recent years, with our commitment to job creation well on track and our tourism industries continuing to grow, this is all very positive.
“Managing an economy in recovery needs to be prudent and pragmatic and now with greater demands on our public transport and on our road networks, the additional funding is very much welcome in ensuring we maintain high quality road networks and transport in Wicklow”.is very much welcome in ensuring we maintain high quality road networks and transport in Wicklow”