Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. In the time remaining to me, I will focus on the area to which Deputy Cowen referred. I attended the same public meeting he mentioned and, prior to that, surveyed the flooding with a number of local residents around Ballhea and Rathcabbin. Having served many years on Offaly County Council, I am aware that this road has not been included in a roads programme for at least a decade. The extent of the work that now needs to be done is a result of that neglect. If the road had been included in a programme under which a section at a time was upgraded over a number of years, it would have prevented the absolute mess we have now. I have never seen a road as bad in all my time as a public representative. More than 100 houses are affected along the 15 km to 20 km section. One knows it is bad when the school bus cannot get down it and people are asking neighbours to take them out in tractors. All of this is without even much flooding; the road is that bad.

The type of investment that is needed in this case will be much more significant than what the local authority will be able to access. As such, a special case should be made for it. The council has had an assessment done of the likely costs and it seems we are looking at the guts of €750,000. That is a conservative estimate. We need to think creatively in situations like these. In a rural area, people have access to diggers and tractors and the manpower is there. Let us work in partnership to resolve the problem. We need to get creative or we are facing terrible consequences. We must start using our imaginations in the face of the terrible storms we have seen this winter.

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