Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I am always hopeful there are a few pounds somewhere. I will still fight for that. I take this opportunity on my behalf and on behalf of my party to congratulate the Minister, the Department, the Road Safety Authority, Mr. Noel Brett, Mr. Gay Byrne and everyone involved in road safety for receiving the award yesterday in Brussels. The Minister accepted this on behalf of the people and he excelled in pushing things forward. We always said our aim was to be number one and that will be the case with the support of everyone.

However, on a daily basis we see a number of people on the sides of roads with punctures. That is due to what is happening on our roads. I saw one on the M3 the other day. Local authorities have done everything to mend our roads after the winter but it remains a serious problem. This will lead to serious road trouble and deaths if we do not get extra funding to continue the work done by the councils over the past four or five months. The Minister said he looked for money. Is it true he sought €25 million but was not given it? Can the Minister go back for money? Unless we fix this problem, we will go backwards in terms of progress on the number of road deaths. I do not like to hear the Minister saying the door is closed. Drink-driving and speed are being dealt with but road conditions are not improving. A sum of €25 million will go a long way at the expense of any other Department. It would be wrong for us not to seek it. We know we cannot bring back anyone who died but we owe this to them if they died as a result of speed, drink-driving or careless driving.

I ask the Minister to go back to the drawing board. If the Minister has to rob any Department to do so, I will support him in every way. I know what is happening and that is a major problem.

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