Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the condition of rural roads in County Cavan. The roads are basically disintegrating in front of our eyes. This is down to a lack of investment by Government in local authorities to provide increases in funding for local roads. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cavan was known as the pothole capital of Ireland, so much so that four Cavan Road Action Group candidates were elected to Cavan County Council in the 1992 local election. While investment in roads improved during the Celtic tiger period, following austerity, the funding was reduced again and the roads are back to a serious state of disintegration. Last year, one of the engineers in the local electoral area, LEA, told me that he had sufficient money to repair 13 km of local road after he took town centres and regional roads out of his budget. It was a similar situation in the other LEAs. We need a huge injection of funds to start addressing this issue. One road in the locality near to me gives access to the local primary school and church. The potholes are huge. I am surprised that the bus is even still travelling, the road is that bad. The council will fill the holes but if a large shower of rain comes, it is back to square one. It needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. I ask the Leader to call on the Minister for local government, Deputy James Browne, to address this issue without delay.