Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The allocation of spending on roads in each county from 2013 to 2016 was, on average, 48% less than what was needed to keep roads in good condition. That is according to the steady-state estimates from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. In its strategic framework for investment in land transport, the Department estimates that an annual investment of €580 million is required to maintain the current regional and local road network. This year's funding allocation is €163 million, or approximately one third, below the level required to repair the network to an acceptable standard. If current levels of funding are not increased, the deterioration in the condition and capital value of the road network will increase. If routine maintenance is not adequately funded, roads and other assets will deteriorate more quickly and will have to be replaced earlier than otherwise would have been the case.

The weather this winter has caused havoc, particularly with regional and secondary roads in more rural parts of the country. The roads in my constituency are a case in point. Potholes are back with a vengeance. The National Oversight and Audit Commission has said many regional and local roads have "large and deep potholes" and show signs of "disintegration of road surface" and "extensive loss of pavement" with "cracking" across more than half the road surface. Our motion calls on the Government to publish a full response to the findings of the National Oversight and Audit Commission, with a detailed plan to address the issues and defects identified in this report within three months.

I have frequently called on the Taoiseach for significant investment and for the upgrading of the N4 and the N17 in the capital programme. On occasion, I speak to IDA Ireland and it has made it very clear that companies have no interest in investing in an area that does not even have a proper road network. Not everybody wants to live in Dublin but the short-sighted policies being implemented by the Government and that which preceded it are seriously limiting the options for people who want to live in the north west. Residents along class 2 and class 3 roads are being treated like third-class citizens because repairs on those tertiary roads have been neglected for years. Regardless of whether they are in Dublin or elsewhere, people who reside along those roads pay motor tax, tractor tax and property tax the same as everybody else. Restoration improvement and restoration maintenance allocations need to be doubled or tripled over a five or six-year period to return some networks in my constituency to a satisfactory condition.

The local improvement scheme was an important source of funds for isolated, neglected roads and lanes not taken in charge by local authorities. The scheme provided funding for private roads and laneways, the maintenance and improvement of which is often essential as they provide access routes for the public in rural areas. Since the previous Government abolished the local improvement scheme, there has been a serious deterioration in the quality of those routes. Many people are being forced to travel on substandard roads in order to get to and from their homes.

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