I wish to raise the issue of the atrocious state of the rural road network in County Cavan. I know County Cavan is not alone in experiencing this situation. Roads nationwide are in need of investment. Counties like Cavan and Monaghan, however, do not have a rail network and are dependent on the roads. One of the engineers in the county informed me that he had only received sufficient funding to repair 13 km of a network of 1,000 km of local roads. To maintain the roads, 80 km to 100 km of road should be repaired each year so that the network can be addressed every ten years. The roads are disintegrating in places and have gone beyond patching. We need an increase in funding this year immediately and we also need a guarantee of sustained funding over a number of years so the local authorities can invest in staff and in contractors to carry out this work.

I am wondering if this is the same engineer who spoke to Deputies Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth as well. I take the point. The constituency of Cavan-Monaghan has been very strong in advocating for increased supports in terms of road maintenance. The point has been well made that inflation has eaten into the cost of repairs. We have raised this issue. We are hoping to be able to secure some additional resources to try to help local authorities deal with the issue of the maintenance of rural roads because it is a significant issue.