Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would be remiss of me if I did not take the opportunity to remind the Minister of his commitment to the Narrow Water bridge and the Ardee bypass, which were part of the regional and rural network in Louth. Obviously, he is not interested in that because he has left the Chamber.

The condition of our rural road network is the third most frequent representation I receive in my office, after health care services and social welfare payments. I spent 25 years in local government before I came into the House. When I joined the local authority in 1991, the cycle of repair and resurfacing of the road network was at a disgraceful once in 32 year cycle, which improved to once in 19 years in the 2000s. Since 2010, most of the rural network has a possibility of getting resurfacing work done once in 30 years.

In my county, those who live on roads which have less traffic, namely, local, primary, secondary and tertiary roads, are being treated as third class citizens. Despite paying their property, motor and agricultural vehicle taxes, development levies etc. they are not getting a fair share of spending in the areas where they live.

For the record, 75% of all of the roads in County Louth are made up of local roads and the national primary and secondary regional roads only make up 25%. There are about 386 km of tertiary roads in Louth, and not one red cent has been spent on a pothole repair programme for the those roads, not to mention resurfacing, in the past three years. That equates to 27% of all the rural roads in Louth. The diktat from management in the local authority to the workers is that if they attempt to fill a pothole on tertiary roads they will lose their jobs.

Based on the Department's strategic framework investment in land transport programme, Louth is getting less than half of what is required in the allocation for regional and local roads, leaving us with a deficit of €6.8 million. The 2017 allocation of €5.18 million for Louth is being lauded by many Deputies on the other side of the House. However, there has been further deterioration in the roads and an increased expectation that something will happen on all roads. People are failing MOTs, the tyres on their cars are collapsing and vehicles are being wrecked. As others have said, the state of the roads alienates motorists, cyclists and pedestrians who traverse the roads.

The corporate plan for Louth County Council outlines that, in regard to infrastructure, its aim is to maintain and improve the road network to ensure it is accessible, safe, smart and integrated and continues to deliver modern and sophisticated infrastructure providing ease of access for all citizens in Louth. That is aspirational at most and will not be achieved without proper funding.

The CIS scheme has not operated since 2014. The required level of input from residents to repair local roads was 20%. I have been informed by Louth County Council that 50% will be sought from people who are already crippled with road taxes. People do not have money to fork out for services for which they have already paid through their road and other taxes. I ask for realistic funding to be put in place to make road infrastructure better without further delay.

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