Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Last week, both sides of the House welcomed the agreement reached between the parties in Northern Ireland on policing and justice matters. During that and many other debates in the House, I expressed a concern about the threat of so-called dissident republicans to the State. Last night, a 250 lb bomb, purportedly set by dissident republicans, exploded in Newry. They are a severe threat to the State and to peace on this island. I call for every possible resource on both sides of the Border to be put in place to eliminate these people and take them out of society before another bomb kills or maims people. The last thing we need is a return to this type of violence. We should do everything possible to co-operate with the police force in Northern Ireland, as I am sure we are doing, to ensure these types of bombs are not exploded again.

We have had floods, frost and snow, leaving many roads in an appalling state. The Minister for Transport asked that local authorities provide an estimate of the cost of repairing roads. When they had done so, the Minister announced that no further money would be made available. This is typical of the arrogance of the Minister and the Government with regard to local authorities and the people. The Minister should come to the House to explain why additional funding is not to be made available to fix the roads, which are in such an appalling state.