Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk about the condition of the 3,522 km of non-national roads in County Wexford. I will give some background. We have the tenth greatest length of non-national roads in the country, just after counties Cork, Clare, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon and Tipperary. The non-national roads network is broken down into four separate categories: regional roads; local primary roads; local secondary roads; and local tertiary roads. In County Wexford, the breakdown making up the 3,522 km is: 529 km of regional roads; 865 km of local primary roads; 1,482 km of local secondary roads; and 646 km of local tertiary roads.

Four national surveys have been carried out to categorise the condition of these roads. In 1995, the first such comparative countrywide study of non-national roads placed Wexford in the lowest grouping, having the poorest overall condition. Ten years later in 2005, a survey placed Wexford and Donegal as the only two counties to rank in the bottom grouping. Despite an almost 20% improvement between 2004 and 2011, the 2011 survey of the condition of regional roads ranked Wexford with Offaly and Mayo as the only three counties with 25% of regional roads requiring reconstruction.

The issue is that the funding is not reflective of road condition. No matter what way we look at studies, funding is allocated on a per kilometre basis and not on a roads condition basis. Since 2008, funding has been cut significantly. Since 2008, County Wexford has had a deficit of €66 million. This is not my first time to stand on the floor of the House and ask for that amount to be given to Wexford to improve the condition of the roads. Addressing that significant 30% deficit in funding would go a long way to help bring Wexford up in the categories.

If we are to be serious, we need to stop asking why we have so many road deaths.

In recent weeks, I have seen flooding, aquaplaning and surface water on roads in County Wexford. It is a very serious issue. We are talking about basic maintenance here and there is no money for drainage. Wexford County Council, to its credit and that of the chief roads engineer, Eamonn Hore, who is also the director of services, is well managed. Our engineers do their best but I have been out and around for months and I have never seen anything like the damage this winter's weather has caused.

In January, the director of services at Wexford County Council sent a letter to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I have it in my hand. It is extensive and includes various appendices to prove what it says. The first point is significant. It states that if the council received €194 million, all roads could be brought up to standard. As much as I would like to say we should get €194 million, we definitely need to address the deficit. For proper planning, to look after road safety as we should and to ensure that people are able to have their vehicles pass the NCT, roads funding to Wexford County Council must increase by between €5 million and €10 million per annum. We need to plan to bring our roads up to standard in the next ten years. We would see a huge improvement in road safety. In the past six months, we have seen a huge increase in road accidents.

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