Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Absolutely. I assure the Senator of my commitment to the LIS. I am engaging with officials on it. There are disparities in the funding per km across local authorities and I want to get a national standard on that. If we get a national standard, that will result in more roads being done in the counties that are delivering. I am also looking at the level of expenditure. Sometimes we gold-plate roads, as it were, when that is not necessary. We need to give a workable surface that people can travel on; we do not need gold-plating. If we can come to an agreement on the standard that is safe and efficient but not gold-plated, we will cover an awful lot more roads and give people a lot more access to their homes, farms and property.