Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday I made my way to my clinic in Oldcastle and passed over the mountain that acts as the gateway to the heart of the capital of north Meath. Snow covered the area, it was a scenic wonderland but it was clear that the roads were crumbling. As I left the town and drove to Ballinacree the theme was the same, crumbling roads. These are not some kind of rural backwaters just because they are further away than the Minister's base in south Dublin. They represent the industrial heartland of north Meath where major exporting companies, such as Kelletts and Briody Bedding, employ hundreds of people. The Luas cross-city system that the Minister mentions means damn all to them.

The Minister recently conducted a photo shoot with the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy McEntee, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, and the county manager for Meath in his office, where he listened to their concerns about roads in Meath. It is a pity he did not invite some of the three non-Government Deputies to get their perspective on how things work, or better still, honour his solemn pledge, made to me in this Chamber twice in November 2016 to see how we do things in Meath. He would see the horrendous roads. Thank God the Minister is smiling because that kind of arrogance will be his undoing. Then he might come and meet us on issues such as the Navan rail line which would reduce the pressure on the tens of thousands of people commuting into the capital each day.

While I have mentioned Meath, in my capacity as local government spokesperson for Fianna Fáil I have to say this is a nationwide issue because the entire local government system is starved of funding. There needs to be a simple engagement between the Minister, members of the AILG, councillors and local government officials, and by that I mean engineers, not the county managers who will tell the Minister what he wants to hear but the engineers who tell councillors they cannot do this or that road because they have not got enough money from central government.

In the report by PAC, of which I am a member, the chief executive officer of TII, Michael Nolan, spoke about underfunding of €100 million per annum. The Minister might face up to that because buses, rail and roads do not seem to be his problem. It is his responsibility. Well he may laugh but he should face up to his responsibility and do his job for the little time he has left to do it.

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