THE NATIONAL Roads Authority (NRA) is continuing to buy up farmland for road schemes that no longer have Government approval due to cutbacks in the capital spending programme, an environmental group has claimed.
Plan Better, a coalition formed by An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Feasta and Friends of the Irish Environment, said 22,000 acres of agricultural land could be purchased over the next four years for “ghost roads”.
A spokesman for the NRA said it had “no comment” to make on Plan Better’s claim.
According to the group, the Government agreed with the EU and International Monetary Fund that no major road scheme would start in 2012 or 2013. Yet €600 million had been allocated for new roads in 2012 and another €260 million the following year.
“With every kilometre of motorway removing 25 to 30 acres of land from agriculture, the road building authority gambles that a future government can be browbeaten into building around 800km of motorway after it has bought some 22,000 acres of land,” said Plan Better.
“The latest move in the NRA’s landgrab is evident in Wexford where steps to purchase land have just been taken in the case of the New Ross-Enniscorthy motorway/dual-carriageway project. More than half-a-dozen other schemes are also being moved towards land purchase.”
Plan Better said this was happening even though traffic levels on the road network had fallen by 7 per cent over the past two years and the NRA would have to pay €100 million to contractors for two toll roads – the M3 and Limerick tunnel – due to low traffic.