Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Ceann Comhairle for their forbearance all night. When he was here earlier, the Minister said that he was hopeful that the review of the capital plan, which we hope will be at the end of this year, will help rural roads and get more money. Indeed the Minister of State has supported the Minister in that. I do not say that it might happen. I say it must happen because if we do not invest in roads, it will be penny wise and pound foolish. It has been accepted by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and many other studies that roads are deteriorating. The quicker we address the situation, the better because the worse the condition of the roads, the more it costs.

I thank the management of Tipperary County Council, including the engineering staff and, above all, the outdoor staff, tributes to whom have been paid by many of my colleagues. They work so hard in all the troubled times and are out there trying to do a lot with such a limited number of staff. I thank county councils. They have a very important role and must be listened to and given more powers and more respect unlike their treatment by the former Minister, Phil Hogan. He banished local councillors but the councillors are the eyes and ears and are at the front line and I commend them. They deal with the staff and role they have. We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. The embargo must be lifted. The local man on the road with a shovel is as important as the draftsman doing the work.

I said earlier that we need projects in the pipeline. We do not have enough of them. TII has said that forward planning must be looked after. We did not have enough time here tonight but I thank every Member who contributed and supported our motion. I do not even listen to the begrudgers who complained that our motion was too conciliatory and that we were contaminated in the Minister's office. We were not. I thank the Minister and his officials along with the Minister of State and everybody else for the spirit of co-operation they showed. According to some, we are going to be "anti" everything and give out. Deputy Troy seemed to be lamenting that we had access to the Minister's office. Thankfully, we have access thanks to the Independent Ministers and other Ministers. While that situation works, we will support it but as I said earlier, we will be raising it on the Order of Business and the Topical Issue debate to ensure it is delivered on and that the promises that made in the programme for Government are delivered. We want front-loading of the funding.

I make no apologies to Deputy Troy or anybody else. They want to have it ever which way - in government and out of government. They do not know what they want. They are like the dog in the manger. They are in opposition and can turn off the tap whenever they like but we are about rural people and rural Ireland. We do not begrudge Dublin the Luas, the Port Tunnel or the M50. We use them ourselves. However, we want a fair and equal slice of the cake - no more and no less. Every person in Ireland who pays their motor tax, NCT charges and insurance and who has to repair their car and support their children going to university and work is entitled to the same standard of roads. At the moment, it is not a level playing field. A total of 94% of roads are rural, local and regional roads with 54% of the total traffic. Think of those figures. It is time we had fair play. Former Ministers, Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen, flew around in helicopters. The door even fell off the helicopter in Cork. They did not care about the people. They thought they were kings but now we are suffering from decades of neglect so it is important we get fair play. That is all we want. The Rural Independent Group is fighting for that for the rural road network and rural business. The Government's plan for rural Ireland launched in Longford will be useless and toothless if we do not have a road network that allows people, tourists and businesses to travel.

The Minister of State and the Government know that we need support and funding for the roads. We need to allow our councils and private people to look after the roads. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae said, the last half mile of every journey is as important as the M50 when we all travel home to our counties and the people we represent who send us here. We are Teachta Dálaí, messenger boys and public representatives serving the public rather than being self-serving like some former Ministers when they had the money during the Celtic tiger. Let the work happen, the roads be repaired and the people be given the respect they deserve with a half-decent road and they will never complain.

Let us ensure there is basic drainage and tree felling and that we do not have too much officialdom interfering and telling us we cannot do this or that. We should have one agency. I hope the Minister goes to TII and allows the likes of the roads in Tipperary town to be resurfaced, a bypass for Thurles and the N24 to be created from Pallasgreen to Waterford. The people deserve no less. They are as important as anyone else. In respect of progress, where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows so I ask the Government to look after Tipperary and all the other counties in rural Ireland. It is not all about the capital city.

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