Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am, but I wish to reiterate it because we are united across parties in trying to address the needs of these vulnerable families and the children who desperately need that drug.

Last Friday, roads and communities in County Mayo were once again cut off by flooding. The flooding is largely due to the lack of investment in local and regional roads. Some €40 million was announced in the budget in that regard but hundreds of millions of euro have been cut from the local and regional roads budgets in recent years while we nationalised the debt of the banks. This is vital infrastructure. Additional local authority staff are needed to address this problem.

I ask the Leader to bring the Minister to the House to have a full and proper discussion on regional and local roads and some honesty on the issue. Because a certain Minister takes it upon himself to announce every Leader grant allocated in County Mayo, the impression and illusion is given that lots of money is being committed to the county. However, there are no funds to clear drains in the county, which could have prevented much of the flooding last Friday. The flooding is serious because it led to entire communities being cut off from Mayo University Hospital. I ask the Leader to request that the Minister visit County Mayo. He has been to Crossmolina and other areas but I ask that he come to County Mayo.