I wish the Minister of State a good morning. I want to speak about roads funding following Storm Chandra in counties Wexford and Wicklow, or, should I say, the lack of roads funding. It was literally this day four months ago, namely 27 January, that Storm Chandra arrived on our shores and caused absolute havoc for people, for their homes and for the roads of the south east. At the time, it was absolutely shocking. Here we are, and there is a sense of déjà vu for me because this is my fourth time to come to the House to ask for additional funds to facilitate repairs to the roads following that storm. I am totally frustrated. I genuinely feel that I and Wicklow and Wexford county councils are being given the runaround. What is happening is simply unacceptable. When you drive from Hook Head to Bray or from Brittas Bray into Coolkenno, you will see first hand what is going on. We are dealing with dangerous roads. Some of these roads are blocked and some have massive potholes. The general consensus is that it is a serious health and safety risk at this stage. Wexford County Council is looking for in excess of €20 million. Wicklow County Council is looking for €15 million. These sums are needed, because what we do not want is a sticking-plaster solution. We do not want someone coming around and filling potholes. We want these roads properly cleared off and a proper waterproof surface applied to them. We need this done now. Why are we being pushed around from one Department to another and still not getting a response? I spoke directly with engineers in the counties regarding their frustration. Again, I stress that this is a huge health and safety issue. It does not matter where you go. I drove from Gorey to Tullow on Sunday. I came back at dusk. There are unmarked roads with potholes on them. Somebody has to stand up in this House and be accountable for the lack of action on this matter. It may not be Deputy Brian Brennan, but as sure as night follows day there will be a TD in some other constituency who will stand up here next January or February following another storm and looking for the exact same thing. Why is there not a policy in place? The CEOs of Wexford and Wicklow county councils were assured that they could go ahead, fix their roads and that the funding would follow. Four months have passed and not one cent of additional funding has been received. This has to be treated as an emergency. If it is not, we will be dealing with a tragedy or a serious injury caused by the state of these roads. Barriers have been put up but these barriers have now been removed by locals because they need to get access to their homes and lands. It is simply unfair, and I just cannot understand why this is being pushed from the Department of finance to the Department that has responsibility for roads. It seems to be falling between two stools. I am ask for urgent action to be taken now.

Sentiment score: -0.08

I welcome the Minister of State's reply. I note and respect it. As he stated clearly, they are getting substantial funding, but even prior to the storm, we felt that the funding was not enough, given that they are two quite rural counties. They are two beautiful counties but we have serious issues with roads. We felt we were underfunded before this, but what this is all about now is additional funding. That is the key. We did not feel we had enough of a budget before the storm, and that has now been exacerbated. We simply have a huge shortfall. Councillors are ringing me on a daily basis and telling me that they are getting it full on from their constituents - the people in their towns and villages - that their roads are simply impassable five months on from a storm. It is ironic that we are here on one of the hottest days of the year discussing storms, which is wrong. As sure as night follows day, some other county will be in this situation. There should be a clear strategy within Government, rather than it being pushed from the Departments of Finance and roads, to be able to deal with these issues immediately. To be fair to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, he came down and addressed the flooding in Aughrim and Enniscorthy. He dealt with it within weeks, if not months, but we are now standing here five months to the date it happened. I hope that no other TD will have to go through what the TDs in Wicklow and Wexford have gone through. I note that Carlow and Louth have similar issues as well. This should be addressed and there should be a clear strategy in place because this is going to happen again. It is wrong. We need to get this addressed and we also need to sit down and have a long-term solution because this will happen again in other counties. It is unfair to the people living in these areas. They have suffered enough stress due to the storm. Why should they be waiting months and months?

Sentiment score: 0.08