On January 17, the Taoiseach spoke in the European Parliament. Following his speech, he faced questions from the leader of the Greens-European Free Alliance, Philippe Lamberts, who told him that Ireland was the worst country for tackling climate change in Europe and was very likely to miss its 2020 targets, which might potentially cost this State €400 million. In reply to his questions, the Taoiseach agreed that Ireland is laggardly when it comes to climate change and he said that he wanted to see the electrification of our railways.

I live in the constituency of Cork South West, where for up to 150 km there is absolutely no rail, which puts huge pressure on our depleted roads. In the mid-1850s, there was rail from Cork through Innishannon, Bandon to Clonakilty, Skibbereen through Ballydehob, and all the way to Schull and Mizen Head, and on the north side through Dunmanway and Drimoleague to Bantry. Remember that this was the 1850s, and it allowed people to both travel and do business throughout west Cork but now, 168 years later, we have nothing. Will the Taoiseach sanction a study on how we can bring rail back to west Cork, if only as far as Bandon, to start once again opening up west Cork as a place where strong business can be done? The pressure on our roads due to a lack of rail or any type of proper public transport means that the roads throughout Cork South West are in a depleted state.

Representatives have pleaded time and time again for money to be spent on the roads in west Cork. The bypass in Bandon remains unfinished, and has been for decades now. Innishannon is a bottleneck for workers and all drivers who try to come and go through it in the morning and evenings. Long-suffering drivers might have to stay behind vehicles from Clonakilty to Skibbereen for 50 minutes, a journey which should take 25 minutes. The sheer frustration for long-suffering motorists is palpable in what we are led to believe is a modern era.

In my 32 years of driving, the biggest job carried out and completed on the N71 road has been the Skibbereen bypass in 2003, all of 15 years ago. All other moneys to west Cork have been for simple repairs, which have left a lot to be desired. I ask the Taoiseach to work with me and my colleagues in Cork South West to find the funding from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohue's Department and to work with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, to carry out proper works on west Cork roads, to create passing bays on our N71 and the R586 from Bandon through Ballineen, Dunmanway, Drimoleague to Bantry and to allow bypasses in Innishannon and Bandon to be completed simply to put west Cork on a level playing pitch with other counties. Over the past 18 years proper works could have been carried out on west Cork roads by two of the Taoiseach's predecessors, but this did not happen. The Taoiseach has a chance to bring rail and a proper road structure to west Cork. Will he do this?

We have a long way to go to meet our obligations under the climate change agreements that we have signed up to, and also to reduce our emissions. We have 2020 targets, which are going to be very difficult to meet, and 2030 targets which may be somewhat more realistic to meet.

We should not forget the ways in which Ireland is different from other countries. We had a lost decade, ten years during which we were not able to afford investment in public transport, new energy and other things. That is changing now, and the ten-year investment plan in infrastructure will have a huge section on climate change and will outline some of the things we intend to do in those areas. We also have a very different economy. Many countries are achieving their climate change reduction targets because heavy industry is dying out and they are able to close down heavy polluting industries. We never had those industries in the first place. We have a lot of agriculture, which produces a lot of emissions. However, the emissions produced from agriculture are lower relative to the amount of food we produce than is the case in other countries. We have to bear in mind that we achieve nothing by displacing production from Ireland to another country.

The Deputy mentioned money from the Minister, Deputy Donohue's Department. Money does not come from the Minister's Department but rather from the people. It comes from the taxpayer and the taxes that are paid by hard-working people and businesses all over the country, including in Cork. Given that it is the people's money, we have to make decisions on how it is best spent, and when it comes to transport investment, in some parts of the country that will mean investment in roads. In other parts of the country, it will mean investment in public transport and railways. It is not feasible, realistic, affordable or honest to say that we can do both in all areas. We have to make decisions as to the parts of the country in which it makes sense to invest in buses and rail and the parts of the country in which it makes sense to improve our road network. It is impossible to do both-----

Everything goes to Dublin.

-----and we have to be honest about that. I would expect that the kind of investment we are going to see in the next number of decades will be based around buses, public transport and railways in our cities rather than in roads. Outside our cities, in more rural areas, there will be massive investment in our roadways. That is what makes the most sense. The biggest road project completed in the past two years was the Gort-Tuam motorway, which I turned the sod on and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport opened only a few months ago. That is part of a new motorway network that will connect Galway to Limerick, as it does already, and then on to Cork via the M20. What makes sense in terms of transport planning is investment in the roads between the cities and in rural areas but within the cities not spending any more money on building new roads because that will not solve the traffic problems. The money in the cities will be spent on buses and railways.

The Taoiseach said that the money does not come from Minister Donohoe's Department as such but that it comes from the taxpayers. The people of Cork South West have been taxpayers for many, many decades and have got absolutely nothing back when the amount of tax they have paid for their roads is taken into consideration. I do not believe that the Taoiseach fully realises the crisis that has hit west Cork roads. In the leading article in the Southern Star newspaper in west Cork last week, it was reported that in 2015 there were claims by motorists for damage to vehicles from bad roads in County Cork amounting to a total of €30,000. In 2016, the figures obtained show that this had increased to €46,000 in one year. I have no doubt that the figures, when released, for 2017 and 2018 will show a dramatic increase because roads are continuing to deteriorate.

Up to 80% do not claim for damage done to their cars. Last week, the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, made €417 million available nationally, €44 million of which will come to Cork county but it is estimated that County Cork will need over €500 million to bring the roads up to an acceptable standard. What was given by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is less than 10% of what is required. This is a genuine crisis throughout rural Ireland and west Cork and I call on the Taoiseach again to examine it as a matter of real urgency and to increase the funding made available to the local authority.

Funding for roads essentially comes from two sources, either grants from central Government or from local revenues such as commercial rates, local property tax and other ways in which local authorities have revenue. To a certain extent, therefore, local authorities can raise revenue and spend it on the roads or other priorities if they wish to do so and there is also funding from central Government. While the roads budget was reduced significantly as a consequence of the economic crisis and the recession, we have been in a position in recent years to increase funding for national, rural, regional and local roads. That will continue, but it will not be possible to do everything in one year.