To ask the Minister for Infrastructure what contingency plans he has to spend the allocation for construction of the new A5 dual carriageway in the event that work is not able to proceed during the current financial year pursuant to the public inquiry in December.

The Public Inquiry into the proposed scheme opened as planned on 4 October 2016 and was originally scheduled to finish on 11 November 2016. However, this has been extended until mid December 2016, with the Inspector’s Report expected around May 2017. The Report will be considered in detail and then I will make a decision on how the scheme should proceed.

Subject to the successful completion of all the statutory procedures it is anticipated that, in line with the ‘Fresh Start’ Agreement, construction of Phase 1A, Newbuildings to north of Strabane, could commence in late 2017.

The Public Inquiry had always been envisaged and had been factored into project timescales. The extension of the public inquiry into December does not affect current year financial allocations as construction was always programmed to commence in 2017/18.