Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In many areas in Leitrim we have a huge problem because much of the forestry is on poor country roads. Hundreds of tonnes of timber are taken out over a period of a couple of weeks and the road is left in a total mess after it. That happens all over the country. A lot of local authorities have serious issues because while a road will withstand normal wear and tear, we are talking about a huge volume of traffic over a very short period of time with very heavy weights and they are putting weight restrictions on it and all of that. That is not part of today's discussion. It is an issue for local authorities who do not get enough money from central government to maintain the roads and are always complaining about it. When clearfelling starts in an area and huge volumes of heavy lorries go in to make the roads and then when the heavy lorries come in to extract the timber, they decimate the roads. It is a problem.