A5 road: Irish government to restore funding promise

In response to a question from the Sinn Féin TD for Donegal, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Mr Varadkar said the government would soon be in a position to “make a revised financial commitment to the A5”.

“We didn’t actually remove our commitment, but we did reduce it substantially on account of the financial crisis that occurred here,” he said.

“The situation is now different, we are now in a much better position financially as a country and the Northern Ireland Executive is now back up and running.

“I had an opportunity to speak with [Infrastructure] Minister O’Dowd about this on my trip to Stormont last Monday.

“We should be in a position next week or two to make a revised financial commitment to the A5.”

The Irish government had previously pledged to contribute £400m to the total cost of the major road project as part of the St Andrews Agreement, but this offer was then reduced.

The road is considered one of the most dangerous on the island of Ireland, claiming more than 50 lives since 2006.

Despite first being announced about 16 years ago, work has not yet started in any substantial form on the proposed dual carriageway upgrade and beset by numerous delays.

If completed, the major upgrade would be the largest road ever built in Northern Ireland, with an estimated cost of around £1.6bn.