Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The issue of funding for roads is addressed on page 44 of the programme for Government. It is not an exaggeration to state the condition of roads throughout the country is chronic. The Government has introduced two budgets, yet the condition of roads continues to worsen. The lack of a funding is causing chaos at local authority level. In addition to reductions in funding for many years and two bad winters, the position in County Tipperary is being made worse by a further factor. Given that the county had proportionately more urban and borough councils than other counties, the withdrawal of block grants for each of the councils when they were abolished has left my county worse off. The result has been a shortfall of €1.5 million, in addition to the other reductions to which I referred. I call on the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to treat County Tipperary as a special case and ask him to meet the chief executive officer of Tipperary County Council to find a solution to this problem. What is the Government's plan to address the issue, given that standard budgets are not addressing it?

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