Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has ordered officials to “get on with the job” of building one of Northern Ireland’s biggest road projects after a court ruling blocking the work was overturned.
At the Court of Appeal in Belfast, Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said a ruling by a judge in 2025 preventing the upgrade of the A5 was “problematic” and could not stand.
Proposals to build a new dual carriageway between Londonderry and Aughnacloy in County Tyrone go back almost 20 years but have been beset by funding and legal issues.
Concerns had also been raised about the environmental impact of building a new road and how much farmland it would affect.
However campaigners have for years called on the road to be upgraded, citing its safety record with 57 people having died on the A5 over the past 18 years.
Campaign group Enough is Enough said it was not “a time for celebration” but there was a “sense of pride” over the court decision.
Families of those killed in crashes on the road have welcomed the court’s decision, saying that making the road safer “is the way forward”.
Kimmins, whose department brought the appeal, said she was “absolutely delighted” with the ruling.
She said it was now her priority to “start construction as soon as possible”.
A lawyer for the Alternative A5 Alliance, an umbrella body of landowners, farmers and supporters who oppose the road upgrade, said his clients would “carefully consider today’s judgement”.
He added that his clients “have always been committed to ensuring the A5 project is the subject of the rigour of the law”.