Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is more than welcome to the House. It is great to have the opportunity to discuss this issue with him in the Chamber. I ask that he ensures necessary funding is put in place for Cork County Council under the national regional road improvement scheme. I am very much aware that a delegation from Cork County Council, including Councillors Michael Hegarty and John Paul O'Shea, is meeting officials from the Minister's Department and the Minister of State at 2 p.m. today.

As the Minister will be aware, Cork is a huge county with more than 12,200 km of road. Some 12% of the island's road network is based in the county. Reports have been published, which show that counties such as Limerick, which has 3,430 km of road, receives more than €10,000 per kilometre. Kildare, which has 2,372 km of road, receives €11,600 per kilometre. Cork, despite having 12,220 km of road, only receives €6,000 funding per kilometre. This is a significant issue in terms of having a suitable pot of money to cover the amount of road required.

There is a road resurfacing programme in Cork. Only 2% or 2.5% of the roads will be resurfaced per year, which means that some people will have to wait 50 years to get a road resurfaced. The constituency I live in starts in Ringabella Bay and goes all the way down to Ardgroom, a distance of more than 200 km, which takes me just over two hours to drive. Distances in our county are a huge issue. We need a pot of funds to be put in place to make sure that the huge infrastructural issues we have with our roads can be addressed and that roads can be maintained and upgraded.

We have a public transport system, some of which is good and some of which is bad. Some of it needs good roads to travel on and unless we have good roads we will not have the public transport system that is required.

I am very much aware that the Minister was asked on RTÉ about the Bandon southern relief road. It is a major issue. It is required due to the articulated trucks driving down the main street of the town. They have no other option. Those driving trucks from Cork to Clonakilty have to go through the main street. It is Government policy that we are trying to ensure relief roads are completed so that villages and towns can breathe. Bandon is the largest town in Cork South-West and needs to breathe, and the only way that can happen is by completing the relief road and getting trucks and a significant volume of cars - up to 30,000 cars a day - out of the centre of the town.

There is exceptional frustration due to the fact that there has been no real movement on this issue over the past few years. A sum of €150,000 was allocated to the project last year, but that will not pay for the stamps in respect of what is required. The Minister and I have been friends over the years. He needs to see what is happening in west Cork and the infrastructural problems we have. He needs to see what is happening in the town of Bandon, in particular, which needs investment to ensure that it can breathe. A significant volume of roads need to be maintained. Resurfacing one road every 50 years is not viable. We need to have the funding that is required.