Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. The people of County Meath deeply appreciate the fact that I can raise these issues in the Seanad.

I am concerned about the state of the roads in the county. The Minister of State will probably argue that the state of the roads is the responsibility of the county council and that the Minister only has a limited function in that regard. However, I contend that the appalling state of our roads, particularly rural roads and regional and third class roads, is due to the cuts to capital expenditure that the Government has introduced since coming into office. The Minister of State will probably respond that we agreed these cuts with the IMF, that they must be done and that they are only following an agreement reached by Fianna Fáil. Before he makes that point, I will counteract it. It is an incorrect contention that is repeated time and again. Under the IMF agreement, in 2012 the Department of Transport was to spend €1.329 billion on capital expenditure. Under the Government's capital framework, that amount was reduced to €1.231 billion, a reduction of approximately €100 million in 2012. Therefore, the Government agreed with the IMF to spend €100 million less than what was agreed by Fianna Fáil in 2010. In 2013, the Government proposes to spend €900 million on capital expenditure in the Department of Transport. Under the four-year national recovery plan, Fianna Fáil proposed to spend €1.075 billion. Therefore, there is a difference of approximately €175 million this year in capital expenditure in the Department of Transport compared with the IMF agreement. In 2014, the difference will be about €120 million. Cumulatively, in 2012, 2013 and 2014, approximately €400 million less will be spent on capital expenditure by the Department of Transport than was agreed with the IMF in November 2010. Therefore, on top of the cuts for which the Government has blamed Fianna Fáil, it has cut the roads budget by €400 million. This is deeply unfair and wrong.

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, boasted in The Irish Times before Christmas that he had cut €300 million or €400 million off the roads budget and nobody had noticed. People have noticed, because the roads are in an appalling state. It is incumbent on the Government to accept responsibility for this and to spend the money agreed on capital expenditure. It was part of the agreement the Government keeps citing to justify its actions. That argument is wrong. The €400 million being cut from 2011 to 2014 is having a massively detrimental effect on rural roads throughout the country. While the Government is still prepared to go ahead with some bypasses, I question the spend on the Gort to Tuam motorway and the Ballaghadereen bypass. I am familiar with the area of Ballaghadereen and I wonder why that bypass has got the go-ahead. Frankly, if a bypass is needed on the N5, it is needed somewhere else. I wonder at the priorities in place. We are able to build motorways, but we cannot maintain rural roads. For example, in the Kells electoral area of County Meath, at least €15 million is required to repair class 3 roads alone. This is a massive amount of money. In the meantime, people are afraid to drive and those who are driving to work find their cars are being severely damaged from driving on these roads. Recently, it took me approximately 50% longer to return from a public meeting in Cormeen, in the Moynalty area, than it would have taken me a few years ago because of the state of the roads in the area and the need to avoid potholes. A meeting took place with the Kells area county councillors about one month ago, but there has been no follow-up from the Minister. At the time, he met the county councillors and the county manager, and the case was made for more money for Meath County Council to repair roads in need of repair.

The problem is that the Government has cut €400 million above and beyond what was in the IMF agreement. That €400 million would go a long way, over a three-year period, towards repairing rural roads, not just in Meath, but throughout the country. The state of the roads is costing the economy massively. Damage is being done to cars and this results in huge administration costs for councils, which must deal with constant complaints. I urge the Minister and the Government to reconsider the capital transport budget and to send the money out to fix the roads and to create jobs in local areas.