P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Howlin for sharing time. This is an important Bill that will affect every road in my constituency of Cork South-West. The wrong Minister is driving the Bill through the House this last two days. Along with all my constituents, I want to know how this legislation will improve 1 km of road in Cork South-West. We do not even have 1 mile of national primary road but must make do with national secondary and non-national roads. We have the largest road network of any county. My county occupies one eighth of the territory of the State but we in Cork South-West have not had our rightful share of the cake for the past 30 or 40 years. Our rail service was decimated, the tracks pulled up and the bridges knocked down and sold to a Third World country where I understand the rail service has been running handsomely for the past 50 years.

I was not a Member of the House at that particular time but those who came before me were promised that the status of our road system in west Cork would be upgraded to national primary status. Some 50% to 60% of the regional roads have not seen a litre of tar or a shovel of chips in the past 30 to 40 years for lack of funding. How in heaven can the Minister now wash his hands of this? He is like Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of responsibility and handing it over to the Minister for Transport, a man who had no appetite to come in here to accept this legacy from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It is a sad reflection on ministerial policy to transfer blame from one Department to another.

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