Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important aspect of what is taking place in rural areas on the Adjournment tonight. I hope some action will be taken to address the restriction in place preventing local authority workers from helping communities and people in their own areas. I refer to a simple plan whereby one could have one tonne of grit mixed with salt kept at the end of many roads on which people have difficulty travelling throughout the country. The reality is that non-national roads will never be gritted by the National Roads Authority, NRA, or the local authorities. They simply do not have the ways or means to get around to gritting them. However, there are several communities, farmers, business people and contractors in many constituencies and rural areas who have the equipment, including tractors, trailers, shovels and pick-ups, to grit dangerous stretches of road. This is a practical and simple solution which would add greatly to the work already being done.

There has been much activity from the local authorities on the main roads throughout the country. They are being well gritted and anyone who drove to Dublin today, such as many in this House, will have observed how well the motorways were done. However, the problem is with the small country roads that people must travel on tomorrow morning after a fall of snow or after a freezing night. These are the forgotten people of rural Ireland. If nothing else this simple practical measure should be facilitated.

The Minister of State is from a rural constituency. He will be aware of what I am referring to and I need not explain it to him. The message must get to the Minister for Transport or to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, whichever of the Departments is responsible. It would be a simple measure but it would alleviate many of the problems.

Some 94% of our roads are regional or local and they carry approximately 60% of traffic, including 43% of all goods traffic. This is relevant, especially at this time of the year when there are many goods to be moved around before Christmas. A good deal of transportation is undertaken on many of our roads including feed to be carried to farmers and heating oil and coal to be brought to many isolated houses. There is a significant argument to support the roll-out of this suggestion. It would be cheap, effective and it would have the support of a significant number of workers in local authorities. I understand many engineers consider this to be a good idea. I call on the Minister of State, who comes from a rural constituency, to ask the Minister to allow local authorities to carry out my suggestion to put salt and grit at the end of each road and to allow the locals to carry out the work.

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