Irish government funding commitment ‘remains in place’

The Dublin government’s €600m (£511m) funding commitment for the beleaguered A5 road project remains “steadfast”, an Irish cabinet minster has said.

Earlier this week, a high court judge ruled the road’s upgrade should not go ahead in its current form because it does not comply with Stormont’s climate change targets.

The Irish government funding of €600m for an upgrade of the road was announced in February 2024.

On Wednesday, Irish Minister of State Charlie McConalogue, a Fianna Fáil TD (Irish MP) for County Donegal, said the Dublin government remains “committed to the financial assurances we have given”.

“To be clear the Irish government’s commitment remains steadfast and remains in place,” McConalogue told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.

“We remain fully committed to the project. It is something we have been very committed to since the outset and at the start of last year we committed €600m to the project and that commitment remains steadfast.”

More than 50 people have died on the A5 since 2006 and campaigners have called for the road to be upgraded.

The road is the Northern Ireland part of the major arterial route that connects the north-west of the island – Donegal and Londonderry – to Dublin, via towns including Strabane, Omagh and Aughnacloy.

The dual carriageway scheme was first announced back in 2007, but has been beset by a number of delays.

The 58-mile (94km) £1.7bn project was given the green light by Stormont ministers in October last year.

On Tuesday Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said “everything is on the table” in considering how to respond to the high court ruling.

Kimmins said she and her officials were “working through the judgement and what that means”, describing it as “extremely detailed”.

“I hope to have a briefing on that later this week, and then we’ll be able to identify what the next steps are,” she told members of the legislative assembly (MLAs).

McConalogue said his government would now work to be supportive in any way possible to the Northern Ireland administration to seeing the project move forward.

Describing the court ruling as “a tremendous blow”, he said: “The Irish government is very clear this project is needed.

“It is essential for the development of the north west, essential for the opening up of the region.”

The High Court judgement blocking the upgrade of the A5 road – because the plans did not comply with government climate change targets – shows the reach and impact of Stormont’s climate change legislation – but the judgement is clear that shortcomings in the project can be remedied.

A solicitor for the Alternative A5 Alliance campaign group, which brought the successful case, said his clients’ efforts had been “vindicated” and it was an important day for the environment.

Safety campaigners from the Enough is Enough group said they were disappointed with the decision but added the judgement provided a “roadmap” for how the upgrade could proceed.

On Tuesday, the organisation Friends of the Earth welcomed the judgement and said “money earmarked for the A5 project should now be redirected to meet other challenges in Northern Ireland’s climate change legislation”.