Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Ross, and thank him for being in attendance. I join the Chair in giving a céad míle fáilte to my former colleague, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, agus an grúpa ó Chontae na Gaillimhe atá i láthair. Tá mé cinnte go mbeidh lá iontach acu go léir inniu.

I thank the Minister for coming here to discuss the condition of local and regional roads in counties Cavan and Monaghan and indeed throughout the entire country. This is the third time we have discussed the road network in County Monaghan in the last two years. He was good enough to facilitate a delegation from Monaghan County Council on this issue approximately 18 months ago. I am not overstating the matter when I say that this has become a crisis. I do not use that word lightly. According to a national survey that was carried out recently, the local and regional road network in County Monaghan is the worst in the entire country. It has become so bad that we are now in a crisis situation.

Counties Monaghan and Cavan are unique by virtue of the large proportion of the population who are living in rural areas. Unfortunately, County Monaghan has not seen the presence of multinationals. It has generally been left to the good people of the county to create employment through indigenous enterprises in areas like agriculture, agrifood and engineering. Many of those enterprises are located on small bóithríns the length and breadth of the county. They are totally dependent on the road network to get their goods and supplies to and from the marketplace. The road network is of critical importance because we do not enjoy the luxury of having a rail network connecting us to the major ports and cities of this country.

Some roads in the Cavan-Monaghan area are totally impassable as a result of recent storms. I know of three roads in County Cavan that are closed off completely to vehicular traffic. The Minister comes from the city of Dublin, where the good people enjoy a good road network. As he has accepted previously, it can be difficult for those who come from cities to get a picture of how bad rural roads are. The roads are so bad at the moment that many of them are impassable. It is very unfair to ask taxpayers and citizens of this country to travel on such roads on a daily basis as they bring their children to school or go to work.

It is time for action. While I do not mean to pre-empt the Minister's response, I have no doubt that he will say the Government has increased the allocation for local and regional roads. While I accept that this is the case, the amount of money that is available is unfortunately not nearly enough to address the serious situation we are facing. I invite the Minister to visit counties Monaghan and Cavan to see for himself exactly what we are talking about. We would be glad to welcome him for a few hours some day. I want him to see that when I talk about the crisis in local roads in County Monaghan, it is not a figment of my imagination. This is real life. It has reached a critical stage. I look forward to the Minister's response. I look forward to his visit to County Monaghan to see for himself exactly what we are talking about.