Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is being urged by Fine Gael politicians to invest in transport infrastructures in Ireland.

Micheál Carrigy, Fine Gael’s Longford Senator organised a meeting with Minister Ryan on Wednesday, 12 September, to express that "clarity is required on stalled projects around the country".

Senator Carrigy said the meeting left Minister Ryan with "no doubt about what we require to ensure connectivity, jobs and investment across the country".

During the meeting Minister Ryan heard about a commitment to expand Local Link services nationally to help with school transport issues.

In a statement, Senator Carrigy said: "The time for kicking the tyres on this project is well and truly up. We need investment from the Minister now to set the wheels in motion.

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"The longer we wait, the more the region is being closed off from the capital. Funding is required to get this long-awaited work to planning permission stage and get construction underway."

With safety concerns remaining a top priority, Micheál Carrigy said: "In my own area, I demanded clarity on when work would begin on a 50km stretch of the N4 between the busy towns of Mullingar and Longford, raising serious road safety and commercial concerns.

"I impressed yet again upon the Minister the urgent need to address the road safety concerns which has caused a high number of fatalities and a significant number of accidents on this section of road over the past 20 years."

In order for a regional development to be 'balanced', Senator Carrigy expressed that "stakeholders must have clarity that construction will proceed to ensure they have accessibility and are well positioned to prosper economically".

Overall, Longford's Senator labelled the meeting with the Transport Minister as 'constructive'. He said: "I was pleased to hear Minister Ryan commending local link services across the country and he gave us a strong commitment to increasing them and examining their use for school transport.

"He also said he would work with the Education Minister to look at using local link services to end the plight for many families who cannot access school buses."