Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

Thank you. We will do a second round with three to four minutes each. I will start with my own second round. The officials alluded to the length of national road in the opening statement. They said that 5,500 km of national routes account for 45% of all road use. I think there was a further acknowledgement as to the deteriorating state and the need to catch up on our national road network. I want to filter down to our regional and local road networks. If I understand correctly, they are funded by means of a block grant to local authorities, and local authorities using their own additional resources as well. There is a significant length of local and regional road in my own constituency of south Tipperary and in County Tipperary as a whole. If there was reference to the deteriorating state of our national roads, do the witnesses agree with me that our local and regional roads are in an even more critical state and are in urgent need of additional funding? I think we are talking about just under 100,000 km of local and regional road in the country. I am certainly concerned as to their state, local roads in particular. Combined, they carry 55% of our national road traffic. I know the block grant has increased marginally but local authorities make the argument to me that the impact of the funding is even less when we take inflation into account. I would appreciate a comment on that and whether there are plans to address it.