Like many others, I resent the comments by the former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, more or less saying that rural Ireland is a burden to the State. That was dreadful. Each and every one of us needs to demonstrate to the people of rural Ireland that we appreciate them here in Dáil Éireann. In Kerry we have a unique situation whereby there are 575 roads on the waiting list for the local improvement scheme, LIS. They are not private roads. They are public roads that were never taken in charge by the county council. There could be ten to 20 houses on each of these roads. We only got €1.2 million again this year. I raise the issue of planning in Kerry for people to build a one-off house for themselves. These people want nothing else but planning. They will do the rest of it themselves. They are being denied that day in, day out for year after year. It is very sad. The other thing that is very important in rural Kerry and in our small villages and towns is the LEADER programme. As we approach the new CAP, having already been told that there will be a 28% reduction in the CAP, I worry that LEADER funding will get squeezed, as well as the farmers who are trying to survive. I know the Minister is attentive, and I appreciate that, but we need to address these urgent issues for the people who are trying to survive. There was one thing in the package that did not include people with diggers, cranes and any kind of machinery involved in construction. They got nothing toward the exorbitant cost of the green diesel.

Sentiment score: -0.01