Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

A number of people have contacted me about high-powered spotlights on jeeps, lorries and cars asking about the law in regard to spotlights. I believe many people have been killed on Irish roads as a result of these blinding lights. I travel up and down to my constituency, spending more time on the road than at home. However, every time I see these high-powered lights I become annoyed. I question what the law is in this regard and what the Garda Síochána is doing about it. I have tabled parliamentary questions on spotlights. The lights on new cars also create problems. The cars are built for the flat roads on the Continent and when they hit a bump on Irish roads, high-powered lights flash on which are a hazard for other motorists. I have heard people say that when these high-powered lights hit their eyes late at night, there is a problem. Will the Minister respond in the House or have his officials write to me stating the law and whether the Garda Síochána is taking the correct approach to the matter?

Another issue I have raised every year since being elected to this House is road signage. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has not dealt with the serious issue of signage. We are supposed to be one of the fastest growing modern economies in the European Union, yet it is impossible for visitors arriving at Dublin Airport to know from the signage how to go north, south east or west. What have the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Government and Ireland against road signage? I challenge the Minister or his officials to go out a quarter of a mile from any part of the city and try to find their way using the road signage. There is no proper signage in Dublin or in any city in this country.

Every year the issue of road signage is the largest cause of complaints to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Surveys show that people cannot find their way round the country. When people lose their way, they make mistakes which cause accidents. Last week the Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, spoke about changing the road signage to express distance in kilometres. Before more taxpayers' money is wasted, he should deal with the issue of road signage. Nobody gets lost in any part of Britain, because there are road signs everywhere. There is no proper signage directing one in or out of any city in Ireland. I acknowledge that extra funding has been allocated to signage, but I see no improvement. That is wrong. They erected a second set of signs in Dublin, having wasted money on the first set, but the job was not finished.

The motorist is fleeced from the day he or she buys a car, with the cost of tax, repairs and petrol. It is time that motorists organised and demanded better roads. The N5 from Longford to Westport is outrageous. Industrialists from County Mayo — from Allergon in Westport, which employs more than 1,000 people, and the health care sector in Castlebar and Ballina which export to China, Amsterdam and London — have lobbied the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the bad roads which damage products giving rise to a high level of complaints. That is not acceptable.

The BMW region is not getting the necessary level of finance from the National Roads Authority, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government or European funding. It is accepted in Europe that the BMW region has fallen behind in terms of infrastructure, but the region is not getting the drawdown from the Government. The investment seems to be made on the east coast. We deserve a national primary road from Westport to Dublin and it is wrong that it is not in place.

Inflation is running at 1.8%, yet the Government scalds the taxpayer with indirect taxes and is levying an additional 5% by way of motor taxation. The local authorities are out of control. I am calling on the Minister to introduce the necessary legislation to make local authorities accountable to the Comptroller and Auditor General, thus coming before the Committee of Public Accounts. Local authorities engage auditors but since I became a councillor in 1979, I have never seen a report on the way the auditor audited the local authority. At least the Comptroller and Auditor General presents his report to the Committee of Public Accounts which can examine the people involved. The witnesses also know they will be examined again the following year. That does not happen in local authorities. The Minister has lost control because his focus is on electronic voting and stopping people voting for whom they want. He is more concerned about running a dictatorship than a democracy. It should be pointed out to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that we live in a democracy.

While I do not wish to be negative on the question of the funding provided for national secondary roads, the only scheme I have seen working well in rural areas is the CLÁR programme. Although I have my disagreements with the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, at least he understands how rural Ireland works and the needs of rural areas. He has provided funding for the CLÁR programme and it is one of the better programmes for rural areas. These areas have not seen or received the resources they deserve for secondary roads.

We want equality. There is an imbalance in this country. Rural areas are not getting the infrastructure or funding they require. This country is drawing down EU funding on the back of rural Ireland and the BMW area but in all Departments that funding has been directed into the east coast. I have nothing against that area; it is important that it receives funding too. However, it must be a fair share. The east coast area has drawn down three and four rounds of EU funding while some parts of the west have not even received the first round. I hope when the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Aylward, is elected to the European Parliament he will fight on behalf of rural areas and tell the Europeans about the imbalance and how the Government conned the EU by drawing down funding on the back of the BMW region but diverted that funding to the east coast. We have seen some improvements but not enough.

Road signage and safety on the roads are important. It is also important to have good roads. People are paying enough motor taxes to have good roads. It is time the Government took another look at the rail service. It should stop big lorries carrying heavy loads of goods into rural areas and get them to use the train service.

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