Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion and I compliment the Rural Independent Group Deputies on bringing it forward. As we all know, local and regional roads are vitally important for social interaction and economic development. Many of these roads have fallen into disrepair and are almost impassible. While roads funding was diverted to other purposes, including the paying down of debt, local authorities have been starved of road grants. The grants were initially cut by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and the cuts continued under the previous Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. There were substantial cuts to those grants, the result of which is that 87% of all primary roads, 92% of all secondary roads and 93% of all tertiary roads - local or county roads - fall outside the best rating category.

A significant proportion are in the lowest-rated category. Local councils have to spend an increasing amount of their own moneys trying to keep these roads in a state of reasonable repair. Many of them, particularly the county roads in Tipperary, are in deplorable condition, littered with potholes, with the surface undermined, and require re-pavement and reconstruction. This is giving rise to significant damage to vehicles. The councils are now receiving regular claims for repairs to damaged cars as a result. There is a need for urgent investment in these roads if they are not to disappear altogether.

We have been seeking a bypass on the national primary route through County Tipperary, the N24, for well over 20 years. The road is the main link and it is a vital social and economic corridor through the county, extending from Limerick to Kilkenny, Waterford and Rosslare. It is not included in the current capital programme. I ask the Minister to consider urgently its inclusion in the review of the capital budget for roads, which I understand is to take place this year. This matter of the N24 affects Tipperary town, in particular. It runs right through the centre of the town, carrying huge numbers of vehicles down the main street on a daily basis. It extends to Clonmel, where the Frank Drohan Road, or the bypass, as it is known, is effectively a carpark at many times of the day. Carrick-on-Suir is also affected. The stretch into County Kilkenny near Piltown is very dangerous. This road urgently needs to be included in the capital programme and a bypass for this whole area needs to be considered immediately.

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