I wish to raise issue of the frustrations of the many folk in County Clare who are living in rural communities, such as the beautiful area of Kilmurry McMahon. The issue is that the roads there are like dartboards. They are unsafe and they are damaging people's cars. This is greatly problematic for those living in rural Ireland who depend on their cars. The costs involved in maintaining a car are already very significant and this situation is not acceptable. The Government has allocated the same amount of funding for restoration, maintenance, repairs and resurfacing this year as it did last year. That ultimately means Clare County Council will experience a reduction in resurfacing of 25% to 33%. Some of these roads have not been repaired for more than ten years and they are beyond dangerous. What do I tell these people?

I thank the Deputies for their questions. In response to Deputy Bríd Smith, I am very much aware of what the Consumer Protection Act states. I am also aware of what European law states and what the laws relating to the regulation of the energy market state, all of which need to be taken into account. There are powers to regulate retail prices but there are no powers to regulate wholesale prices. That is not the process we intend to use to bring prices down, however.

Exactly. Innocent bystanders.

As regards sheep farmers, I acknowledge the difficulties they are facing. To use the Brexit adjustment reserve fund, one needs to be able to prove to the European Commission that Brexit is the reason prices are low and input costs are high. That would be a very difficult thing to prove. Unfortunately, we are finding great difficulty being able to meet the tests to draw down money from that fund. What I can say is that the Food Vision sheep group met recently with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. All the main stakeholders were represented on the group. They have been asked to make submissions. Once received, the chairman's report and the outcome will be carefully considered by the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and he will continue to keep the market situation under review and see if there is more we can do to help sheep farmers.

On the families affected by mica in Donegal and elsewhere, I am aware of the issue relating to engineering costs. Deputy McHugh spoke to me about it at the weekend. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on the issue and he is giving it consideration.

On road building, I will have to come back to Deputy Wynne in that regard. My understanding is that the road budget is the same as or higher than it was last year but I appreciate that the cost of doing work is higher as well. I will revert to the Deputy on the issue.