Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the opportunity to have this important discussion. During my first term in this House, from 2011 to 2016, if we had had one quarter of the money that is available for the schemes being pumped into rural Ireland at the moment, we would have been very glad. There was not a bob to be got in the first five years when I was here. We are, thankfully, in a far better position than we were ten or 12 years ago. Nevertheless, it is all about ensuring that the money is spent in the right places and is invested strategically. I welcome all the schemes, some of which are excellent, such as the town and village renewal scheme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and CLÁR. The funding from the latter is important. However, it is also important that when it is delivered to local authorities, it be drawn down quickly. The Minister of State might follow up, on foot of this debate, to ensure there will be no undue delay by local authorities in drawing down funding.

I might give two examples in this regard. In 2021, there was an announcement of funding for a town centre first plan for Milltown, County Kerry. We are still waiting to see the plan. In the meantime, people have been asking for a bus stop and looking for various things. The default answer is that we are waiting for the town centre first plan and we will see what happens after that. There is a complete halt in regard to any progress on these small but not inconsequential issues for people while we wait for these things to happen. They have to happen more quickly when the funding has been granted.

Another example, highlighted by my party colleague Tommy Griffin recently, relates to the absolute chaos on Inch beach during the June bank holiday weekend. There was hot weather, combined with the bank holiday weekend. There is a complete lack of adequate infrastructure for the thousands of people who visit that location. An Inch beach master plan was announced by the Department in 2021, yet there is still no sign of the master plan and everything is on hold. These are issues we need to work on to ensure there will be efficiency in the drawdown once the funding has been granted. If the local authority does not draw it down in time, let us take the money back and it will not be so slow to draw it down the next time. That needs to happen to ensure delivery.

Moreover, we need to examine the local improvement scheme, LIS. There is clearly a capacity problem on the part of some local authorities regarding the number of roads they can deal with every year. In Kerry, we will have been waiting for 20 years to clear the list. These are not private roads. They are classified as non-council roads but they serve communities. Some of them are strategically very important, given they link people to amenities and valuable locations in the area. The model needs to be looked at. If local authorities do not have the capacity, will the Department consider other models? The money is there. Will the Department provide funding to clear these lists sooner? I tabled a parliamentary question on this last night and was told that my local authority had indicated it has capacity to deal with 16 further roads. At that rate, we will be waiting many decades to clear our list.

The national broadband plan is a strategic, visionary investment that got a lot of criticism at the time. Once Covid and the lockdowns kicked in, however, people really valued it, and it will be even more valued as time goes on. Even so, some people have fallen through the cracks. Some of the low-hanging fruit was taken by commercial operators and National Broadband Ireland, NBI, cleared up everyone else, but some people are not getting the 30 MB they were promised. Perhaps they never will get it from the commercial operators and would have been far better off waiting for NBI. What is going to happen to these people? They are predominantly people in rural areas and they are suffering from a lack of connectivity because they were taken on board by the commercial operators and not by NBI. I highlight the case of Milltown village, County Kerry, which is one example of where this is happening. The topography there has resulted in wireless services not being very good. Will there be a review of what NBI is covering where there is inadequate coverage and where the 30 MB that was promised has not reached?

In the context of regional connectivity, it is important there be a review of the major roads projects that are not currently on the NDP but need to be. A specific example relates to the section of the N22 from Macroom to Ballincollig and Ovens. It is a strategic road. Half of it has been completed but we need to get that connectivity between Cork and Kerry. The engine of the south west is Cork city, but for counties such as Kerry, we need to have adequate connectivity and that road has to be on the agenda.

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