asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware that Galway County Council has disclaimed responsibility for maintenance and improvement of the road network on Inishmaan, Aran Island, County Galway; and the action he proposes to take to ensure a continuation of road repair and improvement works.

I understand from Galway County Council that the roads in question are not public roads. Accordingly, it is not open to the council to incur any financial liability relating to their repair or improvement.

Decisions regarding the taking in charge of these roads and the subsequent expenditure of funds on them are matters for the council.

The Minister must accept that that answer is very unsatisfactory. There is an extensive road network on this small island which, up to now, has been maintained and improved annually, by way of grants from the Department of the Gaeltacht, on an agency basis by Galway County Council. Is the Minister aware that Galway County Council have not received any grants from the Department of the Gaeltacht since his Government came to office? How does he expect the islanders to have improvements and maintenance work carried out to their roads if the Government Department which hitherto financed them have ceased to provide that finance and the council have been told that they have no authority to do them unless the Department come to the rescue?

There is only one public road on the Aran Islands, the Spine Road that runs west from Kilronan on Inishmore. This is a county road and the remaining roads ——

The question does not refer to Inishmore.

I am just saying there is one public road on the island.

If I talked about Inishmore, the Chair would draw my attention to the fact that the question deals with Inishmaan.

I want to give the Deputy all the information I can regarding the roads on Inishmore. There is only one public road on the island. All other roads are non-public roads and, as such, it is not open to Galway County Council to incur any financial liability on their maintenance. It would be open to Galway County Council, if they receive an application from local landowners, to consider improving these non-public roads under the local improvements scheme.

The Minister is abandoning the islanders. In effect, that is what he is telling me today.

I am not. I am indicating how work can be done on these roads and I am giving information the Deputy can pass on to Galway County Council.

Why have the Government withdrawn the grants that hitherto have been available for the maintenance and improvement of roads on Inishmaan? What has the Minister got against the 350 islanders who live on this small island out in the Atlantic?

Absolutely nothing.

Why have the grants been withdrawn?

I am indicating to the Deputy how money can be got. He should use the ingenuity he is able to show in this House to get money for this purpose.

Will the Minister not agree that hitherto Galway County Council repaired and improved the roads but they cannot do so now. Why is that?

I have indicated how they can do it. At the request of the landowners they can use the LIS to improve non-public roads.

In other words, the Minister is saying the islanders can put their hands in their own pockets and repair their own roads, something nobody else has to do in any other part of the country.

That is not so. The Deputy knows that under the local improvements scheme a contribution is required from landowners. The Deputy was a Minister at one time and that scheme operated then.

Is it not a fact that these roads were improved and maintained by Galway County Council in the past? If that is the case, how was it done?

The Deputy may be aware of that situation but I am telling him now the only way it can be done is through the county council, namely, through the local improvements scheme.

Will the Minister tell me if Galway County Council repaired and maintained roads in the past?

The question is, would they repair them, and I am telling the Deputy the only way they can do that work.

Why will the Minister not give an honest answer? We will be back here again tomorrow on the matter.

Not tomorrow.

On Tuesday.

The Deputy will not follow me on this question next Tuesday because I have given him the information he requested in the question. If he is not prepared to operate at local level with the Galway County Council then he is neglecting his function in not approaching Galway County Council on this matter.

This is a very small community but a big principle is involved. The Government are abandoning the residents of this offshore island. Hitherto they have had their meagre road system improved and repaired by Galway County Council who got assistance from the Government to do that work.

That is not so.

I ask why this Government have withdrawn that assistance.

I have indicated how the Government can provide money to the local authority to have the roads improved.

Did the Minister not state that the roads were repaired and improved by Galway County Council with Government finance in previous years? Is the Minister saying that is not so?

In reply to the statement of the Deputy that the Government were not providing money, I said that was not so.

We cannot have an argument about this matter at Question Time.

I have told the Deputy how the money can be got but he is not prepared to go down that road.

Why is the Minister not prepared to answer my question honestly? Is it a fact that these roads were repaired——

The Deputy has stated I have been dishonest in answering the question. I have given him all the information I can as to how the roads can be improved.

I want to ask the Minister——

The Deputy will have to raise this matter in some other way.

Will the Minister tell me if in the past these roads were repaired by Galway County Council with money provided by the Government?

If the same system was in operation that could have been so. I am not aware of it.

Why is the Minister not aware of it?

I am not aware of it. The Deputy told me that Roinn na Gaeltachta provided the money on an agency basis to repair the roads. I accept that.

Obviously that is a matter for another Minister. I am calling Question No. 7.

This is disgraceful. The Government have abandoned the islanders.