Yesterday, I had a visit from a lady who had been diagnosed with cancer. She was particularly stressed because, having applied for and received a medical card, she then had to apply for the fuel allowance, an application that has been turned down. Today, that lady phoned me to say that she has received a secondary cancer diagnosis. She is particularly stressed. Not being able to heat her home is a big issue. If cancer patients are eligible to receive a medical card, they should be automatically entitled to the fuel allowance. We need to support people at this most vulnerable stage in life. I ask the Taoiseach to seriously consider that on behalf of the sick.

I will ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to take the two questions on transport if that is okay. I will respond very briefly on the other matters. I thank Deputy Griffin very much for raising the issue of the posthumous pardon for Sylvester Poff and James Barrett and for his role in that campaign. His suggestion as regards Ballymullen Barracks is appropriate and I will certainly follow it up. I will liaise with him directly on that but it is a sensible and important thing the State could do to acknowledge this issue.

To respond to Deputy O'Dea's questions on UHL, I inquired into the matter only a couple of days ago. My understanding is that HIQA will now provide an interim report at the start of next year and a final report by next May. I know this is a matter of great worry and concern in the Deputy's region. We continue to keep in touch with it.

Deputy Verona Murphy's suggestion is sensible. I will certainly raise it with the Minister. She asked if we can look at fuel allowance eligibility for people who have cancer and who qualify for the medical card. That is a sensible suggestion made in good faith. I will raise it with the Minister.

Regarding Deputy Ó Cathasaigh's comments on Storm Babet, we need much better sharing of information, alerting of the public and early warning systems. Some of the freedom of information responses and the good work done by Carlow Weather and others in recent days have brought this to my attention. I will raise those issues directly with the Department of housing.

To respond to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, our Department will be looking at the roads allocation for both national and regional roads now. It will have to be agreed with Transport Infrastructure Ireland. That will be developed and agreed with TII before the end of the year. I absolutely agree that we need to maintain maintenance funding for roads because, once a road falls below a certain standard, it costs a lot more to bring it back. I agree on the likes of the roads on the Ring of Kerry and bridges on such roads. It is very important that they get first priority in our spending allocations.

I absolutely agree with Deputy Ó Laoghaire. There is a significant issue with public transport in the city of Cork. I attended a meeting with Cork City Council recently at which we agreed that we need more drivers and mechanics. Bus Éireann is engaged in that process but that will not deliver a reliable timetable on its own. We agreed with the council on ten ways to ease some of the congestion that is crippling the city and in which buses are getting stuck. The councillors agreed that they would look at these provisions and that they would give buses better priority so the timetable is put back on a proper footing.