Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A basic for rural Ireland should be a proper transport infrastructure but instead people travel daily on substandard and often dangerous roads. We need an effective public transport network. Without public transport, people must travel on roads that, owing, in part, to the collapse in the economy but also years of cutbacks to grant payments, have not been maintained in a proper state of repair. Roads in County Laois are among the worst in the country. I have seen at first hand the appalling state of the roads in Ballacolla, Roskelton, Rathdowney, Clonaslee, Luggacurren, Wolfhill, Vicarstown and Attanagh. The road from Attanagh to Abbeyleix has not been tarred in over 40 years. I have been trying for some time to have it included in the roads programme. The roads in the Mountrath and Mountmellick areas are similarly appalling.

As a result of the recent bad weather and the heavy rain this winter, combined with a great deal of frost, many holes have opened up in the roads. Despite this, the Government has slashed funding. County Laois has the third worst regional roads in the State. According to the National Oversight and Audit Commission, 11% of roads are showing severe structural distress. Funding for regional and local roads in Laois has been cut by €1.092 million. Funding for national and secondary roads was cut by €423,000, including funding for ordinary maintenance and resurfacing work. Recent announcements of funding are welcome and I particularly welcome the announcement of €3.1 million in funding for completion of the Portlaoise orbital route.

Two weeks ago we heard that the procurement process for the national broadband plan is in disarray, causing more uncertainty for rural Ireland in terms of high speed broadband provision. We are now speaking about the dreadful state of our regional and local roads. Under this Government, the gap between rural and urban Ireland is widening such that counties such as Laois can forget about ever having basic modern communications or transport.

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