Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Since I came up here five years ago, I have listened to how broadband is being rolled out. We have another new broadband plan but it has not hit Kerry yet. They must be rolling it out around the Curragh now because we seem to be as far away as ever from getting broadband in Kerry.

Mobile phone coverage is a disaster in many parts of County Kerry. If one got off the plane in Farranfore, when the planes were running, there was no coverage on any of the three roads out of the airport. Places like Mastergeehy and Kilcummin have no broadband.

The Minister referred to the local improvement scheme, LIS, earlier in her speech. I must remind her that it is not for private roads as such. It is for public roads that were never taken in charge by the county council. In Kerry, we have 750 applications for the LIS but we got €700,000 this year which did only ten roads. There is a savage number of roads on the list. With that funding, it will be 40 or 50 years before the LIS list is wiped out in Kerry. Will the Minister give enough for 100 roads? The people in rural Kerry are entitled to a good road to their doors, the very same as the people in Dublin 4.

We are only going to build 13 rural cottages in Kerry from 2016 to 2021. That is a crying shame. When I raised it with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and Kerry County Council, one blamed the other. The fact remains that 13 rural cottages in five years is not fair play.

I call for more rural transport and for Bus Éireann to put in place new early and late services from Kenmare to Killarney. The Government talks about people using public transport. Now is the time. The Green Party is in power and this is what it is spelling out. We want two more bus runs from Kenmare to Killarney early in the morning and late at night.

The Government should put its money where its mouth is. These buses will not run without money.

Group water schemes are in serious trouble. They are not getting funding. The grant for the treatment of wells was reduced by more than half, from €2,200 to €1,000. How is that fair play? I have the utmost respect for the Minister and I wish her well. I want to thank the former Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Michael Ring, for bringing back the local improvement scheme. I call on the Minister to give proper funding to it. As I said, people in Kerry are as entitled to good roads as everyone else.

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