I wish to make the Tánaiste aware of the harm the Government and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, supported by Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and many others in the Dáil, have done to the social fabric of rural Ireland and especially rural Kerry. He has closed down most of County Kerry and made smithereens of the social fabric people traditionally enjoyed.

I advise the Tánaiste to get into a car with the Minister, Deputy Ross, and his Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, any night and drive around the county to see the damage and mayhem the Government has caused with its Road Traffic (Amendment) Act. The Irish pub was known all around the world as a tourism attraction, a place of culture, traditional music, song and dance, story telling, a place where farmers and workers met to have a conversation, rich with characters who provided original entertainment. People such as Tom Cruise visited Loo Bridge. Sadly he would be unable to visit it again as it is closed. Many cities around the world have tried to replicate the Irish country pub but now people all around Kerry are afraid to go out and are like rabbits trapped in a burrow. Too far east is west. Does the Government have anyone measuring depression rates and how much extra is being spent on anti-depressant medication and mental health?

Pubs have closed down in every town and village already: Rathmore, Kilgarvan, Currow, Faranfore, Curran Scartaglen where Tom Fleming's pub was the nucleus of Slieve Luachra and Irish music, Kenmare, Sneem, Castleisland, Brosna, Knocknagoshel, Caherdaniel in Waterville, Cahersiveen, Killorglin and Glencar where even someone like Schumacher could not do more than 30 km/h. What has the Government done? It has stopped many people going out to socialise. It does not want people to have a car. One Deputy suggests that 30 or 40 people should get into one car. What kind of a batmobile does he propose? Will there be baby seats in it? The Government wants to stop people farming. Ye do not want them eating meat or cutting turf or timber to keep themselves warm. The Government might wake up and analyse the lunacy of its actions if oil became scarce for two or three months. The health service is in a shambles. Kenmare and Dingle hospitals are only half open. The Government gave €900 million for two treatment plants in Dublin. It is all about Dublin. There was €145 million in total expenditure for Kerry County Council for the year but there was €900 million for one project in Dublin.

What is the Government going to do about the people who are trapped and isolated in rural Ireland? I am asking the Government to provide a permit for people who are travelling only on local rural class three roads so that they can have their two pints and drive home on those roads. If they stray beyond those roads, then nail them, but the Government should give them a chance to live because all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.

The Deputy claims to know Kerry very well but he is not describing a place that I recognise when I go there. It is a very vibrant county with fantastic towns. It still attracts huge numbers of tourists that increase each year who come for the experience of the music, the culture and fun. The Deputy might be in the business of talking Kerry down but I am not.

The Government is putting it down.

That is also why this Government wants to invest to ensure that more people can continue to visit the great county of Kerry. That is why we are going to invest €281 million building the Macroom Ballyvourney bypass to improve access from Cork to Kerry. That is why we continue to invest in the Wild Atlantic Way tourism initiative, on which Kerry has been a fantastic leader, and why we are investing in the Adare bypass which improves access from Limerick into Kerry. The Deputy has come into the House and painted a picture of a county which is vibrant - I know it well - as something it is not and that is not helpful in making the case for Kerry. He seems to be making the case that the way to keep pubs open is to allow people to drink and drive. That is not only irresponsible but an insult to so many families who continue to mourn the deaths of people who have been killed by people who were drinking and driving. We were reminded last week when we mourned the passing of Gay Byrne who was such a champion in this area and such a successful chair of the Road Safety Authority, that the attitudes that the Deputy brings to the House around trying to return to some sort of old Ireland that was better because people could get into their cars regardless or whether they had been drinking or represented a danger on the road is just blatant irresponsible nonsense.

The people having the two or three drinks in rural Ireland did not cause the fatalities. The statistics for this year prove that in spite of the new law accidents and fatalities have increased. It is not the people in rural Ireland who have caused that. I ask again that the Government probe the idea that the Garda would give permits to people who are rurally isolated for class three and cul-de-sac roads and if they stray outside those roads to nail them then. It would be for these roads only, not the regional roads or national primary roads. Despite what the Tánaiste says, people do have their heads down. They are socially deprived as the only outlet they had was the local pub. More pubs closed down in the past eight years than under the previous 30 Governments since the foundation of the State. It has closed down Bord na Móna and told its workers it would give them green jobs. The only green they will see is if the door on the dole office is painted green. The Government is only trying to cod them and fool them, but they will not fool the people. The election is coming and the Tánaiste will have to face the doors of the people the Government has trapped in their homes.

I agree with the Deputy on one thing. There is rural isolation which is something that the Government is responding to and will continue to do so. That is why we will spend billions of euro on the national broadband scheme, to ensure that everyone in Kerry, regardless of where they live will be able to access high-speed broadband and all the services that will bring directly into their homes. Rural Ireland is changing. The idea that we will somehow keep hope alive by allowing people to drink and drive on their own local roads as a way of reducing isolation in rural Ireland is just irresponsible and frankly will not work.

It will not work because the Government will not try it.

The first thing we need to do with people on our roads is to ensure they are capable of driving and are not impacted by alcohol or drugs or anything else that can endanger others who use those roads. Surely any responsible public representative would advocate for that as the first priority. After that we need to try to ensure that we support people in terms of socialising and getting to their local pub. That is why we are looking at providing and supporting networks for bus services that can help people do that. Please let us not start proposing solutions which we know, because the facts bear it out, put other people in danger on our roads.

Where are all the buses that the Government is putting on the road? Where are they?