I welcome Vera Twomey and her husband to the Gallery this afternoon.

I am glad to get this opportunity to highlight the lack of provision of jobs, infrastructure and services in Kerry. We cannot attract jobs and investment into our county because we simply do not have proper access. We have been waiting for the Macroom bypass for more than 40 years. We do not have adequate broadband or mobile phone coverage in many parts of our county. Many roads are substandard. To mention just a few, the roads from Blackwater Bridge to Sneem, Killarney to Gneevgullia and those around Scartaglen are in a desperate state. The Rathmore to Killarney road, a national secondary road, is in a desperate state. Many roads in north Kerry around Ballyduff, Kilmoyly, Lixnaw and Abbeydorney are in a desperate state. Many of our bridges are not fit for purpose, allowing only one lane for heavy traffic. Listry, Curraheen and the Caragh bridges were built more than 200 years ago.

Funding for local improvement schemes has been suspended since 2011. Of these, 123 were approved in 2007 and there are in excess of 600 waiting to be assessed by Kerry County Council. The people on these roads in Kerry are as much entitled to a good road to their doors as the people in Dublin 4. These are all public roads, contrary to what the Department and others claim. Many of them were actually built by the local authority.

Seven years’ shortfall in funding for maintenance means that many roads are waterlogged and ponding makes many of them unsafe in wet weather. We do not have enough money now to fill the potholes. Many roadside hedges are not being cut and none will be cut until 1 September, meaning that all the spring and summer growth will not be touched until then. It is a health and safety matter. Whatever about the birds and inside the ditches, all roadside hedges should be cut all year round.

Many areas have suffered huge job losses, such as Castleisland, Kenmare, Cahersiveen and Tralee. All of north Kerry would benefit if the Shannon LNG project was allowed to go ahead by the regulator over whom nobody seems to have control. Rural Kerry has been affected by cuts of 53% to the Leader programme. Worse still, we have had no programme since 2013. Restrictive planning guidelines are preventing young people from putting a roof over their heads. Many towns and villages do not have any public sewerage scheme. One third of Castleisland has been waiting more than 30 years to be connected to the public sewerage system. Kilcummin has been waiting more than 20 years when it has been promised many times. Scartaglen, Curragh, Caherdaniel, Castlecove and Cloghane all have no public sewerage systems with health and safety compromised.

Many people are trapped in their homes due to rural isolation. The proposal by the Government to reduce the alcohol limit further will impact adversely on people in rural areas. It is a big difference for these people from those in urban areas. Many people in rural areas would not get to know their neighbours were dead if it were not for Radio Kerry.

In spite of all these impediments, Kerry and Kerry people are still the best in the world and everyone is still welcome to Kerry at all times.

That is a speech the Deputy should give outside Beaufort church.

I will be giving it again there next week.

He covered the whole range there. I remember the Deputy’s late lamented father stamping his heel at the top of Com an Chiste, saying, “Look at the state of the road here”, when the buses could not pass each other and the road was all cracked. That is all improved, as the Deputy is aware.

It was not you who repaired them.

When Deputy Danny Healy-Rae goes to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 3 July to see the new stadium which the Government has given assistance to the GAA to build, he will pass through Macroom. He will be glad to know that the contractors have been appointed for the preliminary design of the Macroom bypass. It will not be done by the time he is coming back in victory or defeat from Páirc Uí Chaoimh but he will know that work will be under way.

A whole series of things are happening in terms of Leader funding, growth in tourism and sectoral jobs in County Kerry.

Any time I am down there during the summer, it is like the Washington turnpike with traffic and people all over the place, although the people in Kerry will say they are coming all right but they are not spending. That seems to be an age-old problem, particularly in that part of the kingdom.

The Deputy covered a range of issues. I would point out to him that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is starting the process of carrying out a review of the programme for capital expenditure. Based on that, he will respond in due course. I have also pointed out that we have other ways now of securing finance for major infrastructure projects. A line of credit will be available to pay back the loans relating to such projects, be they in respect of the road from Cork to Limerick or roads to other locations.

Kerry is in the mix. The growth in jobs is clear in the region. There are restrictions in terms of planning that are the responsibility of those elected to the county councils. It is very important that a proper balance be achieved in that regard. As the Deputy knows, many county councils do not cut the hedges all year round because there is a consideration in respect of songbirds and their nesting requirements. It is very scenic along the coast down there. The bushes do not thrive as well with the sea breeze, so there is not a requirement to have the hedges cut in all places. I had the privilege of trying to get around the Ring of Kerry on the old bike in June and I saw the Healy-Rae van parked in places just to remind us that they are still around. I hope that Kerry will get is fair share in the review that is being carried out by the Minister. I am sure it will. I do not doubt that when I sit down, Deputy Griffin will send me a text saying that I did not mention him.