Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will answer the broadband query and the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, will answer the queries about the local improvement scheme.

In Kerry, 42,800 premises have access to broadband and another 200 premises will have it in the next couple of weeks. The county is doing fairly well but there is always room for improvement. I have looked at the figures for other counties and know their situation is not as good. The service is being worked on and is being rolled out. Every week more connections are being made to high speed broadband.

I thank the Deputy for his support on the hedgecutting issue. There has been a lot of misinformation about the hedgecutting Bill. I want to make it clear, and I will outline my views again in the Seanad tomorrow, that we must strike a balance between road safety and protecting the environment. I genuinely believe that the Heritage Bill has struck that balance. We do not want to slash the hedges down to stumps just to reduce them by one season's growth. People will realise that when they read the details. Everything in life is about achieving a balance.

I know that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is doing everything he can to resolve the issues with GLAS. We have all received telephone inquiries about the scheme. Improvements have been made and a lot of resources have been invested to resolve outstanding issues. We will raise the matter with the Minister again.

The 500 extra places announced for the rural social scheme are welcome. The Deputy raised some issues that are more suited to the Department of Social Protection. Perhaps he will raise the issues with the Minister for Social Protection and my ministerial colleagues and I will bring them to his attention. I ask my Minister of State to answer the rest of the queries.