NRA postpones crucial meeting on roads programme for 2002

A crucial meeting of the National Roads Authority was postponed yesterday because a new chairman has not been appointed to the board.

The meeting was to have decided on the roads programme for 2002, a controversial issue following a suggestion from the Construction Industry Federation that many new projects would not start this year because of financial cutbacks.

That suggestion had been flatly rejected by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, who subsequently accused the federation of "misinformation and scare-mongering".

At the time the National Roads Authority said it was technically unable to refute the suggestion that it would not start new projects in advance of agreement on the road programme, which was to be decided at yesterday's meeting.

This meeting was to be the first board meeting of the new chairman of the National Roads Authority, following the decision of Mr Liam Connellan, announced early last month, to retire. The Irish Times understands that an additional four directors, whose time on the board have come to an end, have also to be appointed.

A spokeswoman for the National Roads Authority confirmed that the meeting scheduled for yesterday had been postponed. She added that the authority understood appointments were "imminent".

However, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said he did not think it was absolutely necessary for the authority to have the new chairman in situ to hold the meeting.

However, the department accepted that "given the nature of the meeting it was decided by the NRA" to hold off on the decisions.

The appointments would be made in the near future, he added.