Plans to build a fixed transport link between Northern Ireland and Scotland have been put to bed, a Stormont minister has said.
Nichola Mallon said she was pleased to have got confirmation that plans for a bridge or tunnel have been shelved.
Her comments to her Assembly scrutiny committee followed a report in this week’s Financial Times that the project was set to be a high-profile casualty of a Treasury spending review.
British prime minister Boris Johnson has been a vocal supporter of the fixed link and the UK government had commissioned a feasibility study to examine if the infrastructure project was possible.
Some experts estimated a bridge could cost £20 billion (€23 billion).
“This was a bridge that was estimated to cost £20 billion and we all know around this table what we could do for infrastructure and for our communities with £20 billion.”
Ms Mallon said the UK government had yet to stump up the funds required for a series of infrastructure projects within the North that it committed to supporting in the New Decade, New Approach agreement that restored powersharing in 2020.
