John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ring-fenced funding is what I am after, with every Deputy in a rural constituency. Saying to the local authority that the scheme is open and can be funded from its own resources just does not work. Since 2011, there has been a 50% cut in the funding for local roads within councils. We can barely maintain what we have with the funding available. Trying to fund local improvement schemes, in effect, on private roads is simply impossible. Will the ring-fenced fund for these schemes be reintroduced? During the good times back in 2006, the fund was €24.5 million. County Kerry benefited to the tune of €2.3 million in that year which allowed 120 roads to be covered. Even in 2009 when we were in the middle of the recession, the level of funding for the scheme was €15 million, meaning that County Kerry benefited to the tune of €1.3 million. That level of funding would sustain the maintenance roads. The first and last half kilometre of one’s drive are the most important to us all because they are the parts on which we work most frequently.

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