Back in July, Kerry County Council was notified that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is undertaking a review of the planned expenditure for 2024 against the overall budget for national roads, active travel schemes and greenways. Pending completion of this review, it requested that the council not proceed to tender on four projects. This money was allocated to County Kerry. However, in its infinite wisdom the Government has said that the N72 Killallee-Fossa pavement scheme costing €350,000 is to be shelved - parked; the N70 Creamery Cross to Kenneigh phase 2 pavement scheme costing €800,000 - in case the Minister does not know where it is, it is outside Waterville on the road to Cahersiveen - has been shelved - parked; the N71 Kenmare to Bonane phase 2 pavement scheme costing €750,000 - in case the Minister does not know where it is, when you leave Kenmare, the road goes up by Bonane and on towards Glengarriff - has been shelved - parked; and the N72 Lackabaun - in case he does not know where that is, he will have heard of Liebherr Cranes, which is located there - pavement scheme costing €240,000 has been shelved - parked. Overall, the roads budget for 2024 - in case people do not realise this - was cut by €200 million. Will the Government commit to restoring this funding? At a time when it is almost in the position of having to pike money out of the way in different Departments because it is coming their way, I ask the Government to spend the money on roads.

I do not want to cause an argument about cycle lanes or anything of that nature. However, I will give an example. Some €1.2 million was spent on the Rock Road in Killarney. The Minister knows where Killarney is. I could count on one hand the number of cyclists using that cycleway. It cost €1.2 million. No one looked for it but they got it because it is a cycleway. We want a bypass for Killarney. We have money to acquire the land and move the project on, but have we the money to build the road? No. Have we money for the people in Bonane? No. Have we money for the people at Creamery Cross in Kinneigh? No. Have we money for Lackabaun? No. What in the name of God does the Government have against motorists? Does it really despise them that much? The Minister will know how much tax accrues every time a person spends €10 on petrol or diesel. The Government needs to realise that people have to drive around in cars. We cannot all cycle everywhere. Try telling the people in Bonane today that they must cycle to Killarney, Kenmare, Sneem or wherever they work. Tell them they have to get on a bicycle. The Minister would not face it on a bicycle. I know I could not face it on a bicycle. In the honour of God and all that is holy, will the Government please restore the funding, give up the blackguarding it has engaged in and give us back our money? Kerry County Council, Frank Hartnett, our excellent director of services, our excellent roads staff and the private contractors are all ready and waiting. All we need is the money. I am not asking for it; I am pleading with the Minister in an earnest and sincere way.

I thank the Deputy for his question. He is right that I know where Killarney is. I had a very enjoyable experience of visiting it with my family for a weekend in July. On the journey there, like pretty much everyone, we spent 30 minutes caught in the notorious traffic jam in Adare. As we were caught there, I noticed the work on the Adare bypass-----

Were you on a bike?

-----which is a roads project approved and funded by the Government.

That is no good to the people of Kerry today.

The Deputy would probably agree that the project will probably be of benefit to many of his constituents when it has been completed. I make that point because the Government is building new road infrastructure and upgrading existing roads. No doubt the Deputy was at the opening of the Listowel bypass last month, another major piece of new infrastructure in the Deputy's constituency. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 under the national development plan, NDP. As part of this, the we foresee an Exchequer allocation of €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing roads over that period.

In 2024, €411 million in Exchequer capital funding was provided for national roads, for protection, renewal and new roads through TII. This money will be disbursed by TII to the local authorities. The full list of projects funded was announced in February of this year and there has been no reduction of the overall capital funding available for national roads in 2024 since those allocations were announced. However, that does not mean the budget is not under pressure. There are pressures. Some new roads programmes are facing pressure in 2024. There are a number of reasons for this, including faster delivery. We are getting capital projects done more quickly. That is a good thing. We are also seeing inflation in the cost of building materials and land acquisition costs increasing. In the past, when we had significant underspend of capital streams due to projects not being done on time, we could move things around. However, this year, our national capital spend is ahead of target, so the little pots of money that could be reallocated at the end of the year are not as available now as they were in the past.

As well as building and renewing roads, we are investing in public transport systems and we are doing so on scale. The Deputy spoke about the challenge of cycling long distances in County Kerry. He is absolutely right, but we are funding significant additional public transport programmes in his constituency. The number of Local Link journeys increased from 160,000 in 2019 to 370,000 at the end of 2023. On the Deputy's home turf, the Bus Éireann service from Kenmare to Killarney via Kilgarvan used to be three times a day. It has gone up to 12 times a day now.

We are putting investment into major road infrastructure. We are making investment in the renewal of existing roads around the country. We are also providing much-needed additional services for the Deputy's constituents, who are demonstrating their hunger for those new services. The Minister and the Government have met their needs.

The Minister is always welcome to County Kerry and so is everybody else. I ask that they please bring their money there and spend it. We could do with it. In spite of everything the Minister said, there has been an overall cut of €200 million in our roads budget. Those projects were shovel ready. The land acquisition and everything was in place. They were ready to go to tender when they were cut. I am asking on the record that the funding be restored in order that those projects can go ahead.

I remind everybody that at the insistence of the Minister's party when it went into government, €1 million is being spent, seven days a week and 365 days a year, on cycleways and walkways. I am not complaining about that. I am not saying it is wrong. I am saying I would like for some consideration to be given to motorists. The cyclist is very important but so is the motorist. Motorists are usually in a hurry to get from one place to another in order that they can roll up their sleeves and go to work. It is work that keeps the economy going. It runs everything. We need people going to work. We cannot tell them to walk or cycle. I appreciate the extra buses. I really do. However, the bus might not be suitable for everybody because it might not be able to take people from their door to work.

I am making a heartfelt plea to the Minister to take on board what I am saying. I am not fighting with him. I am just asking him to restore the money.

I thank the Deputy for his long-standing invitation. With respect, it does sound like he is complaining about the allocation of money to cyclists. We do not need to be setting one off against the other. We did not invest in cycling infrastructure in this country for a long time. Plenty of the cyclists who are now benefitting from schemes, some of them urban and others rural, are cycling to work. Some of them are tourists who are creating employment for many of the Deputy's constituents. Many of the people who are availing of the extra public transport services around his constituency are going to work. People go to work in a variety of ways. Many people do not have cars and public transport is their only access to work.

The Deputy is absolutely right that cars are necessary for many people. That is why the Government, as well as increasing the investment in major public transport projects and putting in place new services, continues to invest in new road infrastructure and upgrading existing roads. From the information I have, there has not been a €200 million cut. I will pass the points the Deputy has made on to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.