John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to contribute to the debate and commend Fine Gael and Deputies O'Dowd and Hogan on bringing forward this motion. I noted Deputy Fleming's comment that it is a cheap political stunt by Fine Gael. I invite him and other Deputies on that side of the House to meet some of his party's supporters in my constituency. They would soon tell him whether it is a cheap political stunt.

We experienced the flooding followed by the freeze. Now, we have the problem of the roads. The only consistency on the part of the Government throughout this period has been the pedestrian way it tried to deal or not deal with the problems. It was a pathetic response. As the country experienced temperatures of -10°C and below over the Christmas, I heard on the radio one evening that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government had allocated some millions of euro. My immediate response was that it was great, but he had allocated it to deal with the flooding which had occurred two months previously. I read in a newspaper yesterday that the country is now being flooded with the salt that was needed a month ago. Now we are trying to get something done about the roads but we are told no money is available. That is unacceptable.

My colleagues and I met officials from Mayo County Council for a briefing on the situation. The county manager outlined the difficulties the council had and made it very clear that it does not have sufficient resources. A few kilometres of the Ballyhaunis to Claremorris road must be totally restored, but that will cost €2 million. Estimates of the cost of dealing with the roads in the entire county, even through mere repairs, range from €7 million to €8 million. In spite of this, local authorities have been told there is no extra funding. There must be extra funding. I accept that primary and secondary roads must be a priority. However, rural counties have the highest number of local roads in Europe and the people who were marooned on those roads are now being told the roads will not be repaired because there are no resources. The people living in those areas pay their taxes and deserve some consideration.

The initial response of the Minister to the three crises - the flooding, the freeze and the roads - has been to say that no money is available or to blame the local authorities. In other words, it is not the Government's fault. I received figures yesterday regarding reports commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Transport over the last three years. Overall, the reports cost over €6 million. The reports were commissioned in many cases to delay action that needed to be taken. Many of them have never been implemented. The people who are angry about the roads, the flooding and the freeze are the same people who see these figures showing the waste within the Government, yet they are told there is no money for a response.

I commend the motion. It deserves support. It offers a clear, concise plan, which is more than one can say about the response from the Government in the past three or four months.

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