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

I am glad to get a chance to add to my contribution from last night. There is a lot of concern regarding road safety with ideas about reducing speed limits and increasing penalty points. However, we have to admit that there has been a massive increase in the volume of traffic on every road. I am calling for our roads to be upgraded. Many of our roads were built in the late 1800s and have not been improved much since. Plans for the Killarney bypass, otherwise known as the Kerry-Cork economic corridor, has been shelved this year by the Minister, Deputy Ryan. This is unfortunate because on some days they are 23,000 vehicles movements on this road. I call on the Government to revisit this. After 24 years, surely we are entitled to get that relief road built. There are so many dangerous junctions and bridges on the road, including bridges at Listry, Blackwater and Caragh. None of these bridges has been touched since the 1800s. We know the vast volumes of traffic. We have 660 roads on our local improvement scheme list. That is terrible. Even the Bonane road and the Laragh road are in a shambles, with trees hanging over the road which takes big vehicles. On the Ring of Kerry, so much needs to be done on the road from Sneem to Moll's Gap to trim back the trees and the bushes in terms of the massive volume of buses which are on those roads every day.

Section 39 workers deserve pay parity. They are doing the same work as other workers and they have been left behind. They are going on strike and the Government will have to bear the brunt of that because they have been left down. Childcare and creches are being left until next year after all the presentations they made.

I want to mention hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO. This is an option instead of electric. Everyone could use the cars they already have instead of going to the expense of having to purchase an electric car. The Government is not giving this a fair chance. There is a facility in Ringaskiddy for storing this. When I raised this issue last night I got support for it. I am asking for the tax on it to be reduced in order to make it an option if the Government is serious about reducing emissions. Whatever the Government does with emissions, it will still not change the weather, especially when we see what they were doing in other countries like America and China. Here the people are being penalised with carbon taxes that make it harder for people working and transport operators to survive. I ask the Government to look at this option and give it favourable consideration and give it a chance.

See this speech in context