Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I hear hedges being mentioned, whatever few ribs I have stand up straight. A ridiculous case has been made to protect birds. I always put people before birds. I represent a particular county and know that the countryside does not look well when the hedges are not cut. Hedges should be cut all year round. We are talking about the roads that people use so their safety must take first priority.

We have spoken about the local improvement scheme before but it has not been mentioned in the plan. I wish to say to the Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and her Minister of State that the people who live in rural Ireland are entitled to have good roads up to their doors every bit as much as the people who live in Dublin 4. The former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, abolished the local improvement scheme because of a belief that the public or the taxpayer should not be asked to pay for private roads. They may be private roads in the sense that they have not been taken over by local authorities but they are public roads and provide a public right of way to homes.

The local improvement scheme helped many people. Today, the Minister said the scheme still exists, but it exists in name only because there is no funding available. The local authorities have said that they have no money to fund the scheme. Kerry County Council has a file that contains 160 sanctioned applications and over 500 applications that await assessment. On top of that class three roads are not included in the road restoration or improvement programme. The council only considers through roads or link roads for funding. We have been denied. The people pay road tax, property tax and every kind of tax so they are entitled to use the roads. People must pay far more for their national car test and repairs because the roads are a shambles. At present, we do not even have the proper amount of money to maintain roads. All of this means safety has again been compromised. One can see leaks on the sides of the roads, particularly if it has rained. If a young person drives in such circumstances, there is a danger that when he or she drives into a pool of water the driving wheel will be whipped out of his or her hands, the vehicle will be propelled over the ditch and, more often than not, the driver will be killed. People often talk about safety on the roads and the Road Safety Authority so maintaining roads should be a priority. The Government has not provided enough money to maintain roads.

I agree with what Deputy Collins said about GLAS payments. My phone has broken due to the amount of calls I have received about GLAS payments. Does the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine have enough money for the scheme? He has given us the spiel about having a technical problem. Does he have the money for the scheme? People are entitled to receive their payments and I can cite several examples of difficulties. I know of a poor man who needed to pay his daughter's college fees. He needed to receive his GLAS payment after Christmas but he has not received it yet, which is unfair. The payment was supposed to have been paid to everyone.