Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister will not mind if I take advantage of his presence in the Chamber by mentioning the N52 in the hope that we might get a link from Kilbeggan to Tullamore. The Minister will appreciate the importance of this project in light of his recent visit to the area. I remind him, in the context of the specific improvement grants he mentioned in his response, that many roads in west and east Offaly are built on peat foundations. According to the guidelines on the rehabilitation of roads over peat, such roads require works to be carried out on them four to five times more often than roads that are not founded on peat. We can see as we traverse the county that the current funding allocation is not really sufficient to cover all the roads built on peat foundations. I can clearly see the deterioration in roads built on cutaway bogs. I would also like to take advantage of the Minister's presence by mentioning the inner relief road that is required in Edenderry. He will be aware of the work that Offaly County Council has put into this 1 km stretch of road. It is ready to proceed. I would also like to mention the R400 from Rhode to Portarlington, which is part of the link between the M6 and M7 motorways. Rhode business campus is accessed from this strategic route. I would appreciate it if the Minister could look at the question of peat foundations and impress on those who are carrying out our policies that extra funding is needed in County Offaly for these purposes.

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