John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will cut straight to the chase. There are exactly 5,000 km of secondary, tertiary and regional roads in my constituency of Kerry. While this represents approximately 6% of the overall national network, its funding falls far short of most constituencies. In the Listowel electoral area alone, which I used to represent as a councillor, there are 4,000 km of rural road. In 2018, €1.29 million was received but it will be necessary to quadruple that over a five-year period to get the roads back to where they were in 2008. I joined the council in 1999 and from 1999 to 2008, due to substantial investment by the Fianna Fáil-led Governments of the time, we brought the road network up to an acceptable state. That is the type of commitment that is needed. If the Minister does not give it, what is left of the road network will disintegrate and fall apart in the coming years. I ask the Minister to look at a €20 million rolling programme for the north Kerry area alone over five years. I ask him to pay specific attention to one road, the R551, which is known as the Dale Road, which links Tralee to Ballybunion. During the summer, that road brings bus loads of tourists, particularly US tourists, to the golf course in Ballybunion but driving on it is a danger to their health. Rather than going up to Sligo next Friday for his all-dancing, all-singing, bell-ringing announcement relating to the national planning framework, I ask the Minister to announce something practical that will bring real change, namely, an investment in the rural roads of Kerry. Instead of giving us €1.8 million, he should give us €4 million per year over the next five years.

See this speech in context