Dilapidated roads attacked by IRU
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• The Geneva-based International Road Transport Union has attacked Ireland's "inadequate and dilapidated" roads in a report which estimates that IRg9bn (g8.490bn) is needed to bring the roads up to scratch.
But the Irish government, in a four-year plan begun in 1989, has just invested IR1900m (g.849m) to improve its national roads, the Ni and N25 network — and half of this money comes from the Fund for European Development. As a result, the Irish government is considering private finance in exchange for 30-year toll rights on key stretches of road.
The report stresses the importance of road haulage in a country where rail carries only 10% of freight and, unlike other European countries, is on the decline. It cites the Confederation of Irish Industry's calculation that the speed of lorries in Ireland is 20km/h less than in other EC countries because of its poor roads.