Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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5. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if more funding will be provided in 2022 in view of the many local improvement schemes in County Kerry, as there are over 660 applicants still on the current list and at the level of funding being allocated, it will take over 35 years to exhaust this list (details supplied). [28020/22]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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My question is in the same vein. There are still 678 roads on our list. I believe that we have the longest list in the country, but we are only getting funding for 15 roads per year. I appreciate that we got extra funding last year, when we dealt with 19 roads, but a list of 678 roads would take 45 years to get through. I do not think that any of us who are in the Chamber tonight – except for maybe the Acting Chairman, Deputy Carey, who looks young enough, and Deputy Kerrane – will be here in 45 years’ time. It would take ten Governments, assuming they lasted four and a half years, which they may not. We will have to get more funding. What is the Minister’s view on this matter?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The focus of the LIS is to support the continued improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities but that represent vital infrastructure for rural residents. The scheme is also used to fund non-public roads leading to important community amenities such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountain access points or other tourism and heritage sites.

My Department provides an allocation of funding each year to the local authorities for works on these roads. The selection of roads to be funded under the scheme is then a matter for each local authority based on the priority or condition of particular roads in its county. The local authority may rely on existing lists of eligible roads and-or advertise for new applicant roads. Demand for the scheme is strong and it is normally oversubscribed. It is acknowledged how important the scheme is for people in rural areas and for farm families in particular. There is no other source of funding for these roads, which provide vital access to agricultural lands and rural homes.

I was pleased, as part of budget 2022, to announce an increase in the base funding for the LIS from €10.5 million to €11 million this year. Last year, I was in a position to double the initial LIS allocation to €21 million following the identification of savings in other capital areas. Kerry received more than €1.1 million of this funding in 2021.

This year, I am continuing to monitor expenditure patterns closely. Should savings emerge, I will give consideration to allocating additional funding to the scheme again.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her reply, but I will pick her up on something she said. She stated that they were non-public roads, but they are public. It is just that they have not been taken in charge by a local authority. They have the same status as roads that were taken in charge by local authorities. Authorities stopped doing that in the early 1980s, but these roads were left behind. They are public roads, not private ones.

To qualify, there must be at least two landholdings. The council would not dream of dealing with private roads where there was one or two houses and no landholdings. We are talking about public rights of way and public roads.

Our county’s list was completed in 2018. Mixed into that were 90 applications made between 2007 and 2012. That was wrong. People on these roads pay every kind of tax – carbon tax, motor tax, income tax, property tax and the universal social charge. Indeed, people on these roads cost the State very little. Most have their own septic tanks and water and farmers on public water supplies pay savage water bills. They have built and maintained their own houses. These roads are also used by others providing services – milk lorries, feed lorries, tractors, ambulances, doctors, home helpers, postmen, public health nurses, vets, departmental inspectors, school buses and cars taking children to school.

These are public roads. The Department says that they are private roads, and this is where the Government has gone wrong, so I ask the Minister to challenge the Department. These are not private roads, but public ones.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I know exactly what the Deputy is talking about. When I was being reared on a farm, I lived on a lane that was a mile long. I know all about potholes on a lane. We had to swerve the bikes to get past them. I also know about septic tanks because I have a well and a septic tank.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I am glad the Minister does.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The LIS was always funded by the Department of Transport.

In fairness, my predecessor, Deputy Ring, brought the scheme back and I have continued it. We doubled the funding for LIS last year and increased the funding available in the budget for 2022. My county is the same as the Deputy's; it is rural and it has lots of roads but I have to cut my cloth to measure and divide up the pot we get. I have raised this matter with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has responsibility for roads. In view of the fact that the LIS was always funded by the Department of Transport, I have asked that the Minister would consider matching the funding provided by my Department. That means more money and more roads. The Department of Transport has a much bigger capital budget than mine. I cannot do the loaves and fishes because I have a pot and a lot of other things have to get funding as well.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her reply and I recognise Deputy Ring's input because it was I who asked him to bring back the LIS at the Joint Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs several times and I am glad he responded and did so. I do not mind whether the money comes from the Department of Transport or the Department of Rural and Community Development. I have a serious ask for the Minister. There are 678 roads and if we only do 19 or 20 a year, it will take us a long time, which is not fair on the people of Kerry. The people on these roads are every bit as entitled to a good road as the people in Dublin 4. We have to recognise the problem and deal with it, and that problem is funding. I appreciate that the Minister is doing her best and I agree with her that the Department of Transport should facilitate these people. The Minister talks about cycling on her road but you cannot cycle on any of these roads now because you are in and out of potholes and the traffic is massive. The people on these roads are entitled to better and I am asking the Minister, as a Minister from a rural county, to respond and do more for us. We are in a bad situation.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I know about the milk tanks coming in these roads and there were a few concerns that they would not come in any more because they were in such bad condition. Thankfully, I am aware of one case where the road was fixed and the milk tanker is going in to collect the milk. The Deputy will appreciate that and I mention the challenges that rural people face. The only thing I have to make to him is that I have to cut my cloth to measure. If I give more money to the LIS, where does he want me to take it out of? It will have to come from the rural regeneration and development fund, CLÁR, the town and village renewal scheme, the connected hubs fund, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme or the new community centres investment fund that I have just announced last week. It is a balancing act and the commitment I have given is that if savings emerge later in the year I will look at increasing the funding to the LIS. I would like to see some matched funding coming from the Department of Transport. There are the community incentive schemes as well and that fund is in the Department of Transport. Maybe that should be considered too.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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All I will say to the Minister is we are not recognising the amount of taxes that the people on these roads are paying. They are not getting value for their money.