John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When I was elected to the Chamber, the first Topical Issue I raised was the reinstatement of the local improvement scheme.

The Minister gave me a firm commitment that it was part of the programme for Government and would be reinstated in 2017. He turned to his colleague, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, and said he would not let him off the hook on this one. I do not know what has happened in the meantime, but the Minister has said it is the responsibility of local authorities. They do not have the money. We want a specific grant for local roads and improvement schemes or we will be going nowhere.

No more than the Minister, I do not like to be made a liar of, but when I get an answer from him I believe him. I relate that back to my constituents. I now find we are back to the same situation we were in last year, namely, that local authorities do not have money and local roads are going nowhere. I plead with the Minister to reinstate a specific grant so that every year a set amount of roads are improved and no other budgets are affected. The Minister has no idea how important the issue is to rural Ireland and I plead with him to address the matter.

I will briefly mention two other areas. As the Minister also has responsibility for tourism and sport, I note the Wild Atlantic Way is a major success but the road network that makes it up is in severe need of reinvestment. There should be a specific fund for the Wild Atlantic Way which runs right through my constituency. More money is required.

With regard to sport, there is a significant bid for the rugby world cup. We are very confident we will get it. It is being headed by a Kerryman, Dick Spring, which makes me even more confident that we will get it. However, the Killarney to Cork Road and the Macroom bypass is an essential piece of infrastructure if we are to make the project a success, should we be successful in our bid which I have no doubt we will be. I again plead with the Minister to get the Macroom bypass on the capital infrastructure programme. It is too important a project not to include.

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