Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

At the outset, I join in the welcome to Councillor Paddy Meade, who has just temporarily left us, and the member of the Carter family, who are a very distinguished family in terms of public service in this country.

I welcome my good friend the Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins, to the House. She certainly does not let the grass grow under her feet and will act on these recommendations, please God. I will start by listing out some critical projects in my own area and I am anxious these are dealt with and brought to the relevant places. The bypass of Virginia is in progress and I want a running commitment to that. I will quickly tell a light-hearted story. There is a young man who is a distinguished public representative in Cavan, Councillor T.P. O'Reilly, who celebrated his 50th birthday a little while ago - a couple of years ago. He told me that when his Dad was a young man, he was refused planning permission to expand his retail outlet in Virginia on the grounds it would interfere with the route of the Virginia bypass. That was approximately 60 years ago, so it is timely we give that legs at the moment and keep it going.

The next project I will mention is the wastewater treatment plant in Virginia, which is critical. House building in the most beautiful town in Ireland has ceased in the absence of this wastewater plant. We must make sure that finishes. The east-west link, the Dundalk to Sligo road, is an important connection. The Rathkenny bend realignment is expensive but it needs funding and needs to go on. Progress on the N55 needs to continue along with the Cavan north west greenway. These are crucial projects.

The upgrade and maintenance of regional and local roads in Cavan has suffered hugely in terms of money. There has been historic underinvestment in them. We now have that historic underinvestment aggravated by inflation, extra costs, wages etc. but inflation in general. It is a particular issue for rural communities but it is very real for people trying to live in rural communities. I know the very idyllic place the Minister of State lives in herself from my travels as a Senator. I know she has an appreciation of beyond that, and where rural people want to access their house, the local improvement schemes, LIS, in rural areas are crucially important. We need extra investment there and Cavan specifically has a huge waiting list that goes back approximately five or six years. We need that dealt with.

I have great regard for the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, who is doing great work in this area. With the ageing demographic, I want to bring to the Minister of State's attention the need for more retirement villages in this country. I invite him to look at one that is a classically good one in Mullagh, County Cavan. We need these enclaves of purpose-built housing near services and medical services for older people. We have a good former Minister here in the Chamber who was responsible for the disability sector while in this Department, particularly responsible for people with special needs and disabled people, and they need more of this purpose-built housing around the country. Those are the things I wanted to cite.

I did not casually or lightly list off those projects at home. They are critical to a lot of people. I ask the Minister of State to please see they get a mention and actioned. I appreciate that.