TODAY is the historic launch day for the biggest infrastructure project in Donegal’s history with an unprecedented €1 billion road overhaul.
The day marks the start of Donegal County Council’s formal Compulsory Purchase Order process to acquire lands and homes for the unprecedented restructuring.
It involves compulsory purchases of 1,500 acres that affect 475 people and is called the Donegal TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) Priority Route Improvement Project.
Some 34 homes, as well as four commercial operations, and five uninhabited homes, are to be acquired via compulsory purchase orders (CPOs).
The huge scheme received Government Cabinet approval in 2024 and involves extensive upgrades on 60kms of public roads as part of an investment that is officially estimated to cost between €780 and €915m.
Donegal County Council cathaoirleach, Cllr Paul Canning, this week put the cost at “€1bn” and told “apprehensive” landowners, who suspect the Ten-T Project could be delayed like the A5 road project in the North, that the Ten-T Project is “definitely going to happen”.
He said “people don’t realise how big” the project is and claimed motorists will be able, for example, to travel the 22kms between Donegal towns Letterkenny and Ballybofey in “a few minutes” due to the Ten-T road Project.
Heavy traffic in Letterkenny.
Supporters say the project – which would take at least five years to complete – will drastically overhaul Donegal’s national road network, including arterial routes like the N13, N14, N15, and the Bonagee Link road in Letterkenny, plus it will lead to a new Swilly Bridge.
It is claimed that traffic congestion in areas like Letterkenny, Manorcunningham, Lifford, and Ballybofey and Stranorlar, plus Co Tyrone border town Strabane will be drastically reduced and improved.
Planning documents for the TEN-T project – the biggest in the history of Donegal – were submitted in recent days and tomorrow (Friday) marks the start of an eight-week public consultation process.
A Donegal County Council spokesperson said: “This represents the single greatest investment in transport infrastructure in Donegal in the modern history of the county and it is a vital project for its future growth and development.”
Affected landowners, such as local families and farmers, can lodge objections to An Coimisiún Pleanála against the CPOs.
The planning documents will be on display in Public Service Centres in Letterkenny, Lifford, and Stranorlar and can also be inspected on the council’s website.
If planning is approved, the main construction phase of the project could be completed by 2032.
Donegal Co Cllr Donal Coyle hailed the historic road overhaul as a “game-changer”.
He told the Donegal News: “This is what we have all been waiting for. It is a game-changer.”
He added: “Some affected people have known for years that they were going to lose their homes – but they have been waiting and waiting for compensation.”
The Ten-T Project is a long-term EU infrastructure plan that has evolved since first proposals in 1996 and has been agreed since 2013.
Damian Mc Dermott, who is a senior engineer for Donegal National Roads Office with Donegal County Council, stated that talks with all families that are affected by the CPOs have been ongoing for several years.
He said: “We set out what the scheme involves and what the land requirements are. There have been discussions with them non-stop for the last five or six years.
“That will continue. Negotiations don’t really get into earnest until [later]. A lot of the details have been worked out with them, and all the possible information that they require, so they know what to do and how we can help them.
“It’s difficult to buy land or property from them so we are trying to work that through with each of them and we will continue to do that through the next eight weeks of the consultation period and beyond.”
Donegal County Council cathaoirleach, Cllr Paul Canning, vowed this week that the Ten-T Project cannot be compared to the North’s A5 scheme.
The A5 Western Transport Corridor (A5WTC) is an 85km stretch of road that is proposed to connect Derry, Tyrone, and Monaghan at a cost of around €1.5bn and was formally proposed in 2007 but has been beset by delays due to factors including landowners’ objections.
Donegal Cllr Canning said on Highland Radio: “We are investing €1bn into the county, which is absolutely fantastic. People from Ballybofey will be in Letterkenny in a few minutes. It is major.
“People don’t realise how big an achievement it is. It is fantastic for the county.”
He added: “A lot of the landowners out there are apprehensive and are looking at the A5 and are thinking, ‘This [the Ten-T Project] is never going to happen’.
“But it is definitely going to happen. It is a piece of infrastructure that is going to happen.”
Cllr Paul Canning.
Several Donegal Co Co councillors spoke yesterday at a Special Plenary Meeting of the council, including Cllr Patrick McGowan, Cllr Ciaran Brogan, and Cllr Gerry McMonagle.
Donegal County Council announced on Monday past (May 11) that its application, including Compulsory Purchase Order moves, under the Roads Act 1993 will be “published in national and local newspapers on Thursday, May 14”.
It is published today in the Donegal News.
A council spokesperson said: “The CPO and associated maps identify all of the lands required for the construction and operation of the project and list the property owners impacted by the CPO.
“The CPO identifies all known owners/ reputed owners, lessees/ reputed lessees, and occupiers of the lands being acquired.
“All those listed in the CPO will receive individual letters from Donegal County Council in respect of their lands being acquired for this project.
“The National Roads Office has an established Land Liaison Team and they have been engaging on an ongoing basis with land property owners impacted by the project for many years now.
“This team will be available to any landowner or for other public queries that may arise in respect to the CPO process.”
He added: “Further details of the project CPO and all published documentation will be available on the project website www.donegal-ten-t.ie as well as on the An Comisiún Pleanála website from start of consultation period.
“All information and dates in respect to the public consultation process will also be provided in the published notices and on the relevant websites from May 14 and 15, respectively.
“Some 34 homes will be acquired through compulsory purchase orders along with four commercial parcels and five uninhabited homes.
“Landowners and homeowners who are directly affected by the scheme are being contacted by the council’s liaison team.”