The government is being urged to designate the Ten-T project in Donegal as a critical infrastructure project, similar to the designagtion placed on the Galway Ring Road earlier this year.
Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn, who is raising the issue in the Dail later this afternoon, says this is essential to create a sense of urgency for the project that would create a bypass road for Ballybofey and Stranorlar, build the Letterkenny Relief Road including the Bonagee link, and build a new dual carriageway from Manorcunningham to Lifford, to join the A5 on to Dublin.
Deputy MacLochlainn says this would significantly push the timelines for completion forward.
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Latest parliamentary response –
To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will designate the TEN-T Priority Improvement Project Donegal as a critical infrastructure project, as requested by Donegal County Council.
Deputy Padraig MacLochlainn
Response from Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers –
The Critical Infrastructure Act 2026 allows the Government to designate certain infrastructure projects developed by or on behalf of the State as being of critical national importance. This provides a statutory basis for accelerating decision making in respect of designated projects and programmes.
The Act establishes an ongoing framework through which projects and programmes of strategic national importance can be considered by Government on a rolling basis. To date, the Government has designated nine projects as critical infrastructure and these projects are being prioritised through the consenting and approval processes. Further designation orders will be brought forward at regular intervals to ensure continued progress on nationally important infrastructure projects. My intention is to bring further recommendations to Government for designation under the Act before the end of the year.
Any future recommendations will be assessed having regard to the criteria set out in the Act, including the importance of the project or programme to the State, the potential economic or social consequences of delay, and its contribution to national strategic objectives.
Any decision to designate a project remains a matter for Government.
