Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know people in County Kerry who are No. 300 or 400 on the list. At the current rate of 25 per annum, which is a good year, it will still take so many years to get it done. I am under enormous pressure, as are other Deputies and councillors. If the council says it only has so much capacity to do X number of roads in the year, which is what I understand has been happening in recent years, and it has everything it looked for, can local authorities be given the option of additional funding and contracting the work out? There are many contractors in the county who I know are well capable of building good roads. Otherwise, some people will literally be waiting into double figures of years to get their roads done. We are not just talking about people driving motor cars; it is also about people who need to push buggies, use wheelchairs and children cycling up and down the road.

They simply cannot do it at the moment in the places where they live. We need to look outside the box in terms of models of delivery. If local authorities are limited with their capacity, can a different model be considered?

I reiterate that the Department of Transport has to step up to the line. It is a massive Department with a significant capital budget and it should not be leaving the entire burden to the Minister's Department. The Minister has stepped up but the Minister for Transport needs to play his part, too. There is a sustainable element to this as well.

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