Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for that detailed and very accurate reply. The issue remains that there has to be progress. Since 1 January, I have expected progress. It is necessary, for all the reasons the Minister of State mentioned. The reply I received the other day is the same as the one I received in January. I have some experience in tabling parliamentary questions. The Minister is a very nice and respectful guy but I was a little taken aback by the cryptic note of the reply. He is a lovely guy and I know he would not in a month of Sundays authorise the issuing of a reply to a parliamentary question of the kind received; however, there are people who put a tick on each parliamentary question before it is circulated. There are six in all, at various levels. I ask them to think about this because disrespect for people who ask parliamentary questions is something I will not tolerate. Any time this happened in the past, it became a resigning matter. We all have to live up to our reputations.

The last point I want to make concerns Celbridge, and it is slightly different. The local authority had an agenda there and showed a video of traffic going in both directions at relatively high speeds at an existing bridge. I said the proposal would not work, that some of the traffic would overlap and that there would be an accident. This was dismissed completely but during the course of the showing of the video, it is exactly what happened. It was not amusing but just goes to show that a little local knowledge is no harm at all times. I ask that all those concerned who are dealing with the three subjects I have mentioned be given a call to inform them there is now a need for absolute urgency and commitment.

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