Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Wicklow County Council has been given €850,000 to maintain its roads in 2010. With three weeks gone in the year and 49 weeks to go, I estimate that between €500,000 and €600,000 of that annual fund has been spent already. One of today's newspapers reported that approximately €150 million - I imagine that was an educated guess - is needed to repair the damage done to this country's roads in recent times. That equates to an average of approximately €4 million for each affected local authority. It is encouraging that the Minister of State from the capital city is present in the Chamber. It seems that his senior colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who represents a neighbouring constituency, did not take this crisis seriously until it started to affect the city. As my colleagues have said, road infrastructure is the key to road safety. It is also the key to attracting investment, business and tourism. It is right that the road from the hotel in Glendalough to the upper lake car park was repaired last Sunday to make the road passable. However, another section of road not too far away, which is used for access by a milk lorry, was not repaired. If something positive is to come out of all of this, it is that local employment will have to be created as money is spent locally to repair our roads. If this is not addressed, we will have no road infrastructure in 12 months' time.

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