Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

As I said, if money had not been spent in my constituency people would not be able to travel around the country. As the Deputy knows, Bantry is a town I know exceptionally well. As a former MEP I visited it quite a bit and I accept the comments of the Deputy on the typography. I know the structure of the lands. I had regular knowledge of the mussel festival and many other events take place each year.

I accept the comments of the Deputy on the hospital. I visited it on a number of occasions and I am aware of where it is located. I accept his comments on schools. I visited a number of schools there and know many of the people working there, some of whom have recently retired. I accept what he said about the requirements. Many other competing towns say the same thing.

To be frank, the application will detail a lot and based on it, and the cost benefit analysis, judgments will be made on the status of the project in regard to future projects. From that data we will glean whether the project can be pushed forward. There are many other competing projects. We will have to wait for the application to be submitted. The amount of funding available for new road projects over the coming years is very limited. Having said that, we will analyse the data we receive.

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