Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

On that note, I will proceed. I would like to add my voice to the good wishes for our golfer, Paul Dunne. Senator Coghlan admitted that he did not know much about him and neither did I until this week. It is fantastic that somebody has come up through the ranks. The president of his club in Wicklow was speaking on the radio this morning and described him as the boy wonder. Hopefully, that will prove to be the case today.

Despite all the joviality around the issue of seagulls, to which Senator O'Donovan referred, I heard a piece on radio this morning about it. I have a Jack Russell at home and I hope to God the seagulls do not get him because apparently they have killed terriers across England already.

I wish to raise the issue of funding that was provided last week by the Government for improved road maintenance, public transport, rail stock, rail safety and bus fleets. Also included in that allocation was funding towards community and local improvement schemes, which are administered at local authority level. They have been the bane of local councillors for many years now because they have been absolutely starved of funding. I am delighted this round now allows for 10% of maintenance money to be allocated to the local improvement schemes, and for 20% to be allocated to the community improvement schemes. This will mean small improvements which will have a big effect on people's lives, particularly for those who are living on private and public lanes on which the councils are unable to carry out work. With support from the residents and co-operation from the local authorities, these works will be carried out, which is good news for local councillors who are working on this issue.