asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware of the serious condition of Baile na hAbhann Road, Connemara, County Galway; and the action, if any, he will take to provide money as a matter of urgency to deal with the problem.

I understand from Galway County Council that this is a county road which was repaired last summer between Rossaveel Pier and Baile na hAbhann and that repair works of a minor nature were carried out in recent weeks between the latter point and Bantracht. The provision of the finance is a matter for Galway County Council.

Did the Minister say the road between Rossaveel Pier?

Yes, the road between Rossaveel Pier and Baile na hAbhann.

Baile na hAbhann Road is between Baile na hAbhann Pier and Tullycross road.

The information is that repairs were carried out to a road between Rossaveel Pier and Baile na hAbhann and that minor repair works were carried out between the latter point and Bantracht.

The Baile na hAbhann Road is in a dreadful condition at present. Is the Minister aware that it is very difficult to drive a car along this road because of its present condition? In several places the potholes are several feet deep.

Again, I have to say this is a matter for the Galway County Council.

Is the Minister aware that in the west of Ireland and in many other parts because of the changes his Government have introduced regarding the financing of roads the county councils are no longer in a position to maintain and repair the roads? In fact, roads such as those mentioned in the question have had to be abandoned by the councils as they are unable to maintain them. What are the local residents to do? Is the Minister concerned and aware of the problem? Is he going to take any action?

The local authority has been provided with a method of raising funds locally to do the type of work which apparently has been neglected at present, if we can use that word. The Deputy knows that.

Will the Minister agree that in the allocation of road fund moneys and other Exchequer moneys for road purposes, the priorities are determined in his Department, not at county council level? The extent of work to be carried out is determined by the financial allocations he makes available and where there is a breakdown in the roadworks system he must carry the responsibility. There is no other body that can carry that responsibility. No one is higher than the Minister. In this area many of the roads are in such a state that the chief executive engineer has informed me he has had to abandon them. He has received about 47 per cent of the financial allocation he got several years ago. The local residents are up in arms and they are looking to the Minister to provide the funds to ensure that the roads are maintained in a decent condition to allow traffic to travel on them.

To give the Deputy some information, in the period since 1977 road grant payments to Galway County Council have increased by 352 per cent, 104 per cent in real terms. Block grants have increased by 103 per cent which represents a decline of 8 per cent in real terms——

Those percentages have no meaning when compared with inflation.

Direct contributions by the council have increased by only 32 per cent which indicates a decline of 40 per cent in real terms. That is where the problem is.

Is the Minister aware that the road grant allocation he made available to Galway County Council for 1984 was less in actual money terms than what he made available in 1983, despite the wrong figures he gave me the other day in the House?

I have given the Deputy figures which he is not prepared to accept.

We cannot conduct Question Time in this way.

I mentioned last week in the House that the matter of roads is a major issue in the western counties.

It is too large a question for Question Time.

It is necessary for me as spokesman for my party to bring pressure to bear on the Minister to recognise that this problem exists and to encourage him to take some steps to alleviate the problem. Is the Minister aware that when a deputation came from Galway County Council to his Minister of State last year, that Minister told the county manager that he was getting more money in 1984 than in 1983, despite the fact that the manager pointed out otherwise? Is he aware that special meetings were arranged in the Department subsequently and that the manager's claim that he was getting less was substantiated, that the Galway County Council got less money from the Department in 1984 than they got in 1983? Juggling around with the figures and trying to confuse the issue is not helpful. A problem exists and the Minister should stand up to it and recognise it.

We cannot have a speech about what went on in 1978.

I want to get an answer from the Minister. I am going to fight this issue of the roads here in the Dáil and at the county council elections. We are going to fight it throughout the country. We are being neglected in the west by this Government and this Minister and it is incumbent on me and my party to highlight that and bring pressure to bear on the Minister in the House and outside it. He knows well what is happening outside. He knows that the law is being broken over this matter. Is he going to tolerate the breaking of the law and is he prepared to accept the inadequate concern by the Government in regard to the conditions of the roads, particularly in the west?

There is no necessity for Deputy Molloy or any other Deputy to thump the table and to attack the Chair.

I am not attacking the Chair.

The Chair must conduct Question Time and the Chair cannot allow speeches or discussions on every supplementary question. There will be an Estimate here on which the Deputy will have an hour and a half.

Is the Minister aware that the situation has reached the stage where individuals will have to go out and start repairing their own roads in order to ensure that they can travel with their children to school, to Mass, to the shops and to go to work? I want to get it across to the Minister. If I have to raise my voice to do it, I am sorry. I am trying to keep it low but I must get the urgency across to the Minister of what is happening in rural Ireland. The road network is breaking up before our eyes.

I am passing on to the next question.

I think it would be fair if I were to indicate to the Deputy the total payments in money terms of State grants given to Galway since 1977 if the Deputy wants them.

The Minister can juggle with figures.

They range from £.928 million in 1977 to £1.192 million in 1978, £1.692 million in 1979, £1.890 million in 1980, £2.508 million in 1981, £3.332 million in 1982, £4.011 million in 1983-84 and £4.191 million in 1984.

Ceist a 8.

I will be raising the matter again. Those figures are meaningless.