I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. The Government accepts there are genuine maintenance backlogs in terms of roads across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in south Kerry and Kerry more generally. We have allocated additional money to Kerry County Council for the regular maintenance of the network. In respect of the Killarney bypass, I tend to call it the Cork-Kerry road.

Sentiment score: 0.34

It is the Cork-Kerry economic corridor. The Macroom and Baile Bhuirne bypass has been extraordinarily transformational environmentally, on public health grounds in terms of the air, on a road safety basis and also in terms of access and opening up Kerry to the economy of the wider hinterland right across the south west. Cork people are always anxious to benefit Kerry people as much as we possibly can in terms of sharing the economic fruits and so on. However, Killarney is choked; of that there is no doubt. The rural regeneration and development fund has been an important fund in recent years in allocating moneys to rural towns in particular. Cahersiveen was awarded €2 million from the fund in 2022 for a strategic approach to proposed regeneration projects in the town. It was awarded €6.4 million in category 2 funding in May last year, which is very significant, to regenerate the town centre and make it a tourist destination. Key elements of that will be the Carnegie community building and, of course, the Daniel O'Connell Quarter. Daniel O'Connell is synonymous with Cahersiveen and I am looking forward to going down there this year to speak in honour of the Great Liberator. Regarding the various road projects the Deputy alluded to in Killorglin and throughout Kerry, we accept the bona fides of the position that is being presented. There is a need for more funding. We are allocating a lot of funding but we acknowledge that more needs to be done. Sigerson Clifford put Cahersiveen on the map many years ago when he wrote of it: The town that climbs the mountain and looks upon the sea, And sleeping time or waking, sure it's there I long to be, To walk again those kindly streets, where first my life began, With the boys of Barr na Sráide, who hunted for the wren.

Sentiment score: 0.25

I am sure the Minister for public expenditure, who is sitting beside me, has heard the plea that the boys of Barr na Sráide once again be able to walk newly paved streets and a regenerated town for the benefit of the entire country and all who visit.

Sentiment score: 0.65

It is very hard to keep up with the poetic qualities of Kerry Deputies. There are a lot of allocations going on at the moment, including €1.8 million to the N70 Creamery Cross to Kenneigh phase 2 paving scheme that is under way, the Blackwater Bridge to Sneem project, the Waterville to Ballybrack project and improvements to the N72 between Tralee and Dingle. A total of €13 million-odd has been allocated to Kerry County Council. We have met with TII and made it clear we want to deliver and implement stronger road improvements because they are important and tourism is important. Kerry needed access to wider economic activity. Access matters to trade and connectivity. The whole south-west area has always been seen as an economic entity in itself. If the Cork-Kerry road is improved, it reduces peripherality, enables people to get goods to market quickly and enables people to visit places much more quickly, which is beneficial to the economy and to social life. It also facilitates health access and a whole load of things. We take the Deputy's point and will work on it.

Sentiment score: 0.17