John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Rural Independent Group for putting forward the motion. I draw the attention of the Minister to the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, which carried out a survey of Irish roads last year and categorised them from worst to best and somewhere in between. Of regional roads, 18.4% were in the best category as were 12% of primary roads, 8% of secondary roads and 6% of tertiary roads. In other words, 82% of our regional roads are not in an acceptable condition. Of our secondary and tertiary roads, 92% are not in an acceptable condition. That is the challenge before us. The fact that we are €250 million shy of the required amount of money to maintain our road network sends a very strong message. We need to increase that funding because otherwise the road network will break up even further and the cost of putting it back will increase significantly.

I refer to the local improvement scheme. The Minister is more than welcome to come to Kerry for his holidays or to look at roads, but I would much prefer if he just sent us down the money.

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