'Desperately overdue bypass of Carrick-on-Shannon is down as ‘maybe’ - Sligo/Leitrim Senator Nessa Cosgrove

The "desperately overdue" bypass of Carrick-on-Shannon is down only as a ‘maybe’, Sligo/Leitrim Senator Nessa Cosgrove, Labour Party stated this week while hitting out at "the failure to progress vital infrastructure schemes necessary for the development of the region" including the N16 route upgrade from Sligo to the Leitrim border which was among the transport projects "rejected as not being ‘shovel ready’."

Speaking following the release of the September 2025 Status of Priority Infrastructure Projects of Scale report issued by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, the Sligo-based Senator said:

 “The North West Regional Assembly does amazing work in identifying not only the needs and gaps in provision in our region but also, as is shown in this report, in identifying solutions and development possibilities which could, and should, be implemented. So when the latest Status of Infrastructure report landed on my desk I was really hoping to see a number of major projects identified for delivery within the constituency by the end of 2030. 

While a number of Electricity grid upgrades have been identified as ‘shovel ready’, we have to question whether these are likely to benefit the transfer of wind energy from our region to feed the insatiable demand of data centres, rather than facilitating the construction of much needed housing? 

However, what I was most disappointed to see was the number of Transport projects rejected as not being ‘shovel ready’. These are projects that have been known about for years, and which should have been progressed under successive Fine-Gael-Fianna-Fáil-Independent Governments.” 

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The Labour Spokesperson continued: 

“I am talking about road projects such as the N17 Knock to Collooney, the N15 Sligo to Bundoran Road and the N16 route upgrade from Sligo to the Leitrim border, all ruled out. Even the desperately overdue bypass of Carrick-on-Shannon is down only as a ‘maybe’. 

It could be argued that the Government could stand over their neglect of the road network if they were promoting alternatives, such as rail, but they have also ruled out progressing the Western Rail Corridor between Claremorris and Collooney, for at least the next five years. 

The commitment to significant additional investment in Ireland West Airport is welcome, as is the development of the Western Rail Corridor in Mayo, and this demonstrates what can be done, with sufficient political will.” 

“Our region is bursting with untapped potential. In terms of our natural resources, our landscape and our extremely talented and hard-working population, we could compete with any region in Europe. Instead, decades of under-investment in infrastructure projects are preventing us from achieving our potential. 

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She concluded: "We appear to be missing out on any meaningful Infrastructure developments between now and 2030. I am calling on all our stakeholders and politicians, local and national, to ensure that they do everything that is possible to get our long-overdue Infrastructure projects on the agenda for actual delivery over the next ten years.”