I will give the Minister an example of how out of touch the Government is. He stated that €102.4 billion is being allocated over the five-year period from 2026 to 2030. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. At the same time, I am being contacted by people in Carrowteige who are being told that they will have to pay €2,359 by Friday or they will not get clean water. How can we be spending billions when we have people in rural Ireland being asked to pay that amount by Friday? We are talking about pensioners who are absolutely distraught and people who are already in poverty because of the cost of living. I am asking the Minister, once and for all, to ensure that there is fairness for people in rural Ireland. When we talk about infrastructure, we are not just talking about water and the lack of clean water. It also involves our regional and local roads. I have spoken to the Minister many times about roads he knows well such as the R312, which is the regional road connecting Castlebar to Erris. This is the regional road on which Stephen Lavelle has had to travel in an ambulance with other people who are ill and or, on occasion, dying. This is a road that is not fit to put a car on never mind an ambulance, and the Minister tells us that €102.4 billion is being spent and that we should be jumping up and down and happy about it. I am sorry but there is an absolute disconnect between this Government and what is happening in rural Ireland in terms of infrastructure.

Sentiment score: -0.05