Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

I am glad to acknowledge what the Minister of State has said on the very generous funding which Kerry County Council and all other councils have received from Government in recent years. The Minister of State will be aware that there is a worry about the current straitened finances owing from the economy in Ireland and worldwide. I anticipate the allocations for local and regional roads in 2009 will be well back on 2008, and this project may again be a loser.

I ask the Minister of State to relay to the Department the concerns of a large number of people in a very important peripheral community in the country who depend on this bridge. I thank the Minister of State for his courtesy.