Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on this motion on behalf of the Rural Independent Group. I compliment Fianna Fáil on putting down this motion. Our motion was submitted for next week on this topic but now we find that it has been disallowed because of repetition. This is so important that every Deputy from rural Ireland has to talk about it.

The Minister of State, who lives in the south east, must also know this. While there is a motorway from Dublin to Waterford city, he will know what the roads around Dungarvan and other areas in County Waterford are like. The roads in my constituency, from Carrick-on-Suir to Kilsheelan and Clonmel, from Cahir to Tipperary town, Bansha, Thurles and Kilcommon, in the mountains and everywhere else, are in a deplorable state. We lobbied hard in the talks on the programme for Government - the Minister of State was present on some of the days - to have money front-loaded for roads. We were told that ample funds would be allocated for roads in the Government's second budget. The less we invest in roads every year, the more we will have to spend because they are deteriorating fast. Funding is needed. It is pointless trying to attract tourists or companies to locate in my local area, which does not have broadband services either. The bridge and streets of Thurles are in an appalling state. Traffic calming measures such as dangerous traffic islands are destroying the place. I wonder who has these brainwaves.

I salute the area engineers who must divvy up and try to manage the money that is available. We are taking a sticking plaster approach. This is a particularly inclement winter and the large amounts of rain and frost have left roads disintegrating, which is not fair to motorists.

I fully support the requirement to have all cars older than ten years pass the national car test, NCT. However, insurance companies are refusing to insure people who have valid NCT certificates for their vehicles. This is fraud, blackguarding and downright robbery of people in rural areas.

I will make a point about the brainwave the Taoiseach had when he made an announcement in Cork some months ago. Unfortunately, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is not present to listen to it. We lobbied to have a motorway built from Limerick to Cahir to link the M8 motorway between Cork and Dublin with Waterford via Piltown, where people are being slaughtered on the roads. "Dr. Spin", as I call the Taoiseach, on a recent visit to Cork, made an announcement, before the Minister had arrived, that he would proceed with the motorway from Limerick to Cork. It would make more sense to extend the M8 to Mitchelstown as that would serve all of us. However, the Taoiseach wanted to make an announcement for some of his people in Cork in an early morning raid. Maybe he had this harebrained idea when he got up that morning. It would cost €380 million less to build a motorway from Limerick to Cahir than it would to build a motorway from Limerick to Cork. I have no issue with extending the motorway to Cork but it would be sensible to first build a motorway from Limerick to Cahir and then Waterford to connect the Port of Waterford with Galway and Limerick, cities that need infrastructure. The Minister did not have the patience, interest in or respect for rural Ireland to spend two hours listening to us. That is a shame and disgrace.

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