Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

I come from County Cavan. We have no rail network and nor do Monaghan, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Donegal. The entire area has no railway. We did but the Government at that time, some 60 years ago, had no foresight and decided to end the rail service to Cavan. Not only did it do that but it allowed people to build over the rail line, take it up and sell the sleepers. I know Cavan is included in the all-island strategic rail review, and there are proposals for a connection from Portadown to Monaghan and Cavan but it is way down the line. This leaves us dependent on the roads. The road structure is very poor and is deteriorating more and more.

There is a large rural network of roads in Cavan. There is probably 3,000 km of roads. Approximately 10% of the roads should be repaired every year but there is not sufficient funding provided to do this. A minute amount is provided for local roads. I know this does not come under the Minister's current portfolio but it came under his previous one. The funding was not provided in sufficient amounts to repair the roads and keep them up to date. We had a history of poor roads in Cavan and we are going back to it. We had pothole candidates elected 20 years ago.

The 109 and 109X bus routes provide a regular hourly service from Cavan to Dublin. Some of the services go to Dublin Airport also, which is very welcome. It needs to be reliable but that is not always the case. It is frequently late and there are serious capacity issues on the 109X route returning from Dublin to Cavan in the evenings. Passengers are often left standing at a bus stop because there is not sufficient capacity on the bus. This has been raised time and again with the National Transport Authority and it still has not been rectified. It needs to be reviewed on an ongoing basis and extra capacity supplied where needed.

The Local Link network is very welcome. It continues to expand and connect local towns to a main town or to bus networks servicing other towns and larger areas outside the county. We want to see this continue to expand and facilitate more people. Stops between villages are not allowed and this is very frustrating. In the area where I live, a service goes from Cavan to Ballinagh to Kilnaleck. It stops in each of these towns but not between them. People have to go into the nearest village to get the bus so they might as well take the whole journey to Cavan in their car. If stops could be facilitated between villages, it would be very welcome.

The nearest airport to me is Dublin Airport. It is such a busy airport. We have to drive there, then park and get a shuttle bus, and then walk for a long time to get from one part of the airport to the other. When I was a child Shannon Airport was utilised far more. I recall going to Shannon Airport regularly to meet or leave relatives at the airport who were returning to the United States. I have used Knock Airport, even though it is little bit further away from me, and it is a convenient airport because people can park right beside it and walk in. Belfast airport is the same. It would be very welcome to see investment in our regional airports so they could have more capacity.