Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has conducted any audit or study of the quality of the road network, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15508/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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This question relates to the conduct of audits and studies on the road network. As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in respect of the national roads programme. The construction, improvement and maintenance of individual national roads is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. As regards national roads, therefore, assessment of the condition of the network is the responsibility of the NRA.

In line with the requirements of EU Directive 2008/96 on road infrastructure safety management, which was transposed into Irish law in 2011, the NRA has put in place comprehensive guidelines on road safety management procedures for national roads in Ireland, including network safety management, temporary inspection of safety measures, road safety inspection, road safety impact assessment and road safety audit procedures. The NRA anticipates that the first round of road safety inspections will be completed by the end of 2013 in compliance with the directive.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority. Works on those roads are funded from local authority resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority as well. State grant payments are administered by the National Roads Authority on my behalf.

My Department and the NRA commissioned Pavement Management Services Ltd. to carry out a pavement condition study on the entire regional road network in 2011. The pavement condition study involved the use of machine surveys to collect road condition data, skidding resistance data and digital imagery on the regional road network. The main objective of the study was to establish, by county and nationally, the lengths and areas of various categories of regional road requiring various types of remedial works. This information is required to quantify the current status of road conditions within counties and nationally and to provide a benchmark measurement against which the future actual road conditions can be compared. Where comparable, the roads were measured against the results of a previous study in 2004, and the results indicated that there had been a considerable improvement in ride quality over the seven-year period. In addition, the study indicated that nationally the percentage length of the regional road network requiring road reconstruction had dropped significantly from 24% in 2004 to 15% in 2011.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to put on record my disappointment at the continued exercise of what appears to be an effort by the Government to prevent this side of the House, the Opposition, from having a detailed Question Time. Yet again, there seems to be a considerable number of questions on the Order Paper from Fine Gael backbenchers. We have seen the same with health questions. I believe it is unhelpful. The Minister is usually a straight talker and I wish to put one straight question to him. Has the Minister, anyone in his Department or anyone associated with him discussed the questions on the paper with any backbenchers in Fine Gael in an effort to have them put down questions on his behalf in order to filibuster Question Time? Will the Minister answer that question?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to do so. My office does not put in questions on behalf of backbench Deputies, but we tell them when Question Time is coming up and when the deadline is and we invite them to submit their questions on relevant issues, which they do all the time. It is important to bear in mind that everyone in the House is elected and everyone in the House has an equal right to ask questions. As an Opposition spokesperson, Deputy Dooley gets priority over all other Members, as does Deputy Ellis and whoever represents the Technical Group. However, backbenchers, whether from the Labour Party, Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, are elected on the same basis and have an equal right to put down questions, and it is a good thing that they do so.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Minister. On the question, Deputy.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his frank answer. He is one of the few who has clearly indicated there is a practice within his Department. He has not spoken for anyone else but at least he has indicated that there is a practice of filibustering Question Time, effectively stuffing the oral questions section of Question Time with general questions that will elicit positive answers-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We have had an answer on that.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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-----that are supportive of Government policy and allow the Minister to enlighten us on various policy positions and results he has achieved in certain areas. The Minister and his Department do that well through the issuance of press releases on a regular basis. Parliamentary parties exist-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Dooley, we only have six minutes for each question.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I accept that, but this is an important issue.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Please ask your question.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I would have thought Fine Gael would hold a parliamentary party meeting which would provide backbenchers with a unique opportunity to question the Minister and get an understanding of what is going on in his Department. However, they are now taking up time in the House which heretofore was used by the Opposition to hold the Minister to account on a variety of issues. The Minister is a straight talker and I do not believe he needs to do that. I call on him to consider desisting from the practice in future.

In recent weeks the Minister announced that €42 million of Government funding for local authorities could be diverted to emergency road works. I am concerned that the Minister somehow believes that €42 million is adequate to deal with the level of damage done to the road network as a result of his not being in a position last year to provide additional resources to keep the ongoing care and maintenance programme in place. The Minister is somehow suggesting that the local authorities should be in a position to do the works from within their own resources while failing to recognise that the local authorities are well strapped because of the increased burden that now befalls them in respect of taking charge of many of the housing estates that need significant service upgrades. It is not appropriate to suggest that somehow moving money around will resolve the difficulties that are being experienced by motorists on a daily basis.

I have been through County Meath on many occasions in recent weeks and once one moves off the main roads there are major problems there. The Minister must address this in a more substantial way. I call on him to carry out an audit in the first instance and put himself in a position to know exactly what funding he will have to find for next year's road upgrade programme.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will give Deputy Dooley a straight answer to the straight question he has asked. I am looking at the question paper before me. Of the first ten questions, only two are in the name of Fine Gael Members. It is not until the seventh question that any Fine Gael Member gets an opportunity to ask a question.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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That is done by lottery.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question No. 11 is in the name of a Fianna Fáil Member. Question No. 12 is tabled by a Sinn Féin Member. No. 13 is from a Fianna Fáil Member.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has 39 questions in-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Generally, only the first 20 get covered.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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There are 39 Fine Gael questions.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call on Members to get back to the question.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The largest party in the House has perhaps three or four questions out of 20. I have what I believe to be a valid question: why is it that when we have Question Time here Deputy Dooley is the only person from Fianna Fáil who turns up? We have been having Question Time for two years and the only person who turns up from Fianna Fáil is Deputy Dooley. Is it that his party has no one else with any interest in transport, tourism or sport issues? Every Member is elected and every Member has a right to speak in the House and ask questions. As Opposition spokesperson, Deputy Dooley gets priority. A total of eight of the first ten questions being dealt with today have been tabled by Opposition spokespersons-----

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister desist from coaching backbenchers?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Could we get back to the question, please?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and to me that is more than fair.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We are on ceist No. 1.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It may have been the practice in the previous Government that backbenchers did not have a say and were only allowed to speak at private parliamentary party meetings, but this is a different Government and we are serious about Dáil reform.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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There is no show like the Leo show.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is the case that we encourage backbenchers to take part in Question Time and the Order of Business, as they should.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister knows that is rubbish.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the figure of €42 million, that is not additional money but money already allocated. Local authorities have more flexibility in how they can use it. They have a right to use it in a discretionary way. They requested this discretion in order that they could prioritise emergency repairs over restoration works. I have also allocated an extra €2.7 million, particularly to deal with drainage issues which present a big problem on rural roads. I acknowledge that we are not able to allocate enough funding for roads to maintain them to the standard we would like. This is because budgets have been cut centrally in the Department but also because local authorities have cut their budgets considerably. It should be borne in mind that local authorities receive two thirds of motor tax revenue but do not have to spend it on roads. They should put more of it into road maintenance. In the next budget and at Estimates time I will make the point strongly to my colleagues that while roads are, by and large, in very good condition, there are parts of the country where they are starting to deteriorate and we will need additional finance to repair them.