Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The review of the NDP is something I will contribute to.

I hear what the Minister is saying. We need investment in roads. We need investment in public transport as well across the areas in question. When I am talking about basic infrastructure, I mean those 38 KV lines and the lines that run directly into people's homes. Everything is crumbling. If the Minister travels across Connemara, he will see poles split in half. From when the original damage happened in November, there are still lines lying across the ground that have not been fixed. There is a massive amount of work that needs to be done, specifically in respect of simple things such as replacing or repairing poles. There are things that we need to look at.

With the weather changing, things will become increasingly difficult. During Storm Darragh, what happened was that some of the poles fell and some of the wires fell also. It was just a little bit of snow. It was not a horrendous amount, but it managed to stop all telecommunications for a two-week period. Can the Minister, who sits at Cabinet, prioritise ensuring that there is an investigation into why the 999 call system was not working and that this does not happen again?

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