Next month — July — marks 17 years since the Northern Ireland Executive confirmed their acceptance of the A5 western transport corridor proposals to be taken forward: 17 years. In that time, 56 people have died on the A5 road, and thousands have been injured. This week, I have been alerted every day about serious accidents that have occurred on the A5. Luckily, this week, we have had no fatalities, but 56 people have died in that short space of time.

The road is dangerous. It puts our citizen's lives at risk; it does not discriminate. It claims the lives of husbands and wives, sons and daughters, neighbours, friends and people throughout our community. Those people, for the record, were Janeen Black, Colin Thornton, Tony Thompson, John Walker, an unnamed lorry driver in 2007, Leslie Edgar, Mary Elizabeth Scott, Desmond Bingham, Pat McCourt, Shane Caldwell, Zoltan Szabo, Darren McAnenly, Mary Wasson, an unnamed female pedestrian in 2009, Zbigniew Bartnicki, Declan Harvey, Gareth Gallagher, Simon Glenn, Peter Fugill, Cathal Donaghy, Kovacs Szabolcs, Leo McKeever, Alexander McEntee, Patsy McCroary, Kieran McSorley, Michael McDonald, Aaron McDonald, Sean McElwee, Neil McAleer, Shane Rafferty, Caoimhe O'Brien, Maurice McCloughan, Killian Doherty, Margaret McLaughlin, Kathleen McGarvey, Sean Reid, an unnamed male in 2018, an unnamed female in 2018, Darren Gallagher, Aaron Harkin, Nathan Corrigan, Petey McNamee, Peter Finnegan — one of the most horrific accidents on the A5; those three young men lost their lives — Jonathan Reilly, David Gilmore, Sammy Patterson, Niall McDonald, John Rafferty, Julia McSorley, Christine McKane, Dan McKane, an unnamed passenger in 2023, and, since the House returned in February, Caolan Devlin, Oonagh Burns, Kamile Vaicikonyte and Jamie Moore. Those are the lives lost on that road.

We need the A5 scheme announced and delivered before any further pain is added to the people of our communities. We think on them all and their families.