Seanad debates

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Adjournment Matters

Road Network

7:10 pm

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

PPPs are simple. Business people are prepared to invest in them provided they believe they can generate a return on their money. In the case of the stimulus budget announced by the Government a number of weeks ago, it is hoped some State assets will be sold. The Senator has mentioned a specific project. Everything depends on the state of the country's finances. We can criticise what happened during the Celtic tiger era for many reasons, but one good thing that emerged was the road infrastructure provided. There can be many criticisms, but that is one positive aspect. PPPs are about investors who will only go where they will make money. They are beginning to come back and people are beginning to have more confidence in the country. We saw this in the funding generated from the auction of 4G mobile phone licences last week. The Government expected to generate less money. This shows that the shoots are emerging and that things are looking a little better. There is a little confidence in the country and everything boils down to growth. The more money there is in the economy, the more opportunities we will have to allocate funding for road projects. The Department is committed to the N17-N18 Gort-Tuam and the M11 Gorey-Enniscorthy road projects and the N25 New Ross bypass project and I hope they will commence. The Galway project depends on planning, but we hope to continue with it. Other projects are in the pipeline, but they all depend on the provision of funding.

The Senator and I are from rural constituencies. The big issue for everybody is that of road maintenance. We need to ensure sufficient funding is available for this task because there is no point in destroying the good roads we have. We must maintain them and ensure people have proper roads on which to drive.

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