Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is talking about €4 million for improvements but that is for pothole repairs. That is what he is saying. Those are the facts. I would like him to visit the roads of west Cork. He perhaps knows west Cork better than most Ministers. I can show him some of the roads that are in appalling condition. I took the former Minister, Shane Ross, down there. I should have taken Shep the dog down to west Cork because Shep the dog would have barked whereas Shane Ross did nothing for us. I do not want to be saying the same thing about the Minister in a couple of years. I do not want to say he did nothing about bypasses for Innishannon, Bandon and Bantry. All we hear about is further reports and no delivery for the people of west Cork. A journey from Skibbereen to Clonakilty takes 45 minutes to an hour if one gets stuck behind a lorry. Passing bays must be put in place. It would not cost magic amounts. The Government is looking at astronomical money to do small jobs and it does not look at how simply these jobs can be done. We have no delivery, zero delivery, on further thinking about west Cork since 2003. For almost 20 years successive Governments have failed to deliver for west Cork. I ask the Minister to deliver. He should get up and say that at least one of the bypasses will start in the next 12 months for the people of west Cork.

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