Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would have thought Fine Gael would hold a parliamentary party meeting which would provide backbenchers with a unique opportunity to question the Minister and get an understanding of what is going on in his Department. However, they are now taking up time in the House which heretofore was used by the Opposition to hold the Minister to account on a variety of issues. The Minister is a straight talker and I do not believe he needs to do that. I call on him to consider desisting from the practice in future.

In recent weeks the Minister announced that €42 million of Government funding for local authorities could be diverted to emergency road works. I am concerned that the Minister somehow believes that €42 million is adequate to deal with the level of damage done to the road network as a result of his not being in a position last year to provide additional resources to keep the ongoing care and maintenance programme in place. The Minister is somehow suggesting that the local authorities should be in a position to do the works from within their own resources while failing to recognise that the local authorities are well strapped because of the increased burden that now befalls them in respect of taking charge of many of the housing estates that need significant service upgrades. It is not appropriate to suggest that somehow moving money around will resolve the difficulties that are being experienced by motorists on a daily basis.

I have been through County Meath on many occasions in recent weeks and once one moves off the main roads there are major problems there. The Minister must address this in a more substantial way. I call on him to carry out an audit in the first instance and put himself in a position to know exactly what funding he will have to find for next year's road upgrade programme.

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