Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I concur with the Minister on the identification of accident blackspots and so forth. However, as every Deputy is aware, the condition of some rural roads has deteriorated to the extent that some will be closed for health and safety reasons in the coming spring. The Minister has a responsibility to ensure county councils are properly financed. He referred to the money that has been allocated. Either the allocation is not sufficient or the councils are holding back money. I do not believe the latter possibility is the case because, as everyone knows, county councils are broke. Last week, the first black frost of the year resulted in a number of unnecessary road traffic fatalities and a large number of cars were written off in accidents around the country.

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