Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. These distances need to reflect the situation on the ground, as distinct from what can be seen from a desktop exercise, in cases where roads are unsuitable for travelling. For example students attending Cork Institute of Technology, CIT, would come in on the N40. While there is an off-ramp for them to take, Rossa Avenue is a one-way street and students are forced to go in through estates. However, when students are leaving the college they cannot get back onto the motorway in the same way. They have to take a different route. Those kinds of distances need to be taken into consideration. They are only small distances but for people on the edge it makes a significant difference to the level of grant they receive. Furthermore, the way the distance is calculated means that if a distance arrives out at 44.9 km, for example, it will rounded down to 44 km and not up to 45 km. It should be rounded to the nearest kilometre.

There are also roads that are unsuitable for travelling. For example in winter there are roads that are salted and roads that are not salted. People will travel the most suitable road. It will not necessarily be the mountain road that has the very poor quality surface as identified by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. These issues need to be taken into consideration. When would the Minister of State envisage a review being conducted on this issue?

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