James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raised a very specific roads issue, namely that of the local improvement scheme in my own county, Wexford. These improvement works on private and non-publicly maintained roads are very important to local communities. These roads often lead to houses or farms, but also, importantly, may also lead to lakes, rivers, beaches, castles and old graveyards and other historical and important cultural sites. These benefit historical and cultural access and access to facilities in Wexford as a tourism county and are therefore critical for improving development and infrastructure in rural Wexford. A total of 800 applications have been made for the scheme across the country but only about 30 have been funded.

In 2018 Wexford got the third lowest allocation despite being a five-seat constituency and one of the largest populations and counties. In contrast, the Minister's constituency, a four-seat constituency, received almost four times as much funding as Wexford. In 2019 the funding for Wexford has almost halved. Will there be further funding for Wexford for local improvement schemes? It is badly needed. We have the fifth worst roads in the country. While it is not applicable for public roads, the local improvement scheme would help the county.

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