I echo the comments made by my friend and colleague, Senator Mark Daly, about the Government's neglect of rural Ireland. The people who live in rural Ireland - I happen to live in County Leitrim, but this is mirrored throughout the country - can see at first hand the impact Government policies have had, including the closure of Garda stations and the threat to post offices. I hope the Bobby Kerr report will awaken someone in government to take positive initiatives to ensure the rural post office network is maintained.

Another aspect of my contribution on the neglect of rural Ireland comes with the damning report from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on the lack of funding for the maintenance of the road network. On many occasions in this House in recent years I railed against what I saw as under-investment. It has been brought home to me repeatedly as a member of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. Committee members have heard first-hand from the various stakeholders involved in maintaining the road network that there has been underfunding for years. Let us put that against the Government spin to the effect that the economy is rapidly recovering and there is now money available. We need only look at the auction politics being engaged in by the Labour Party and Fine Gael. The latest from those in the Labour Party is that they are going to reduce college fees by €500. Who is going to believe them?

Are they going to sign a pledge on that one?

Exactly. Who is going to believe those in the Labour Party who say they are going to reduce university fees by €500?

It is Alice in Wonderland.

It is "Ripley's Believe It or Not!"

The idea of trying to buy the public when, at the same time, the road network is crumbling beneath our feet is baffling. Representatives from the National Transport Authority told members at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications in the past 12 months that the authority needed €300 million per year simply to maintain the network. Despite this, the figures that have come out in the report from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport suggest there has been a rapid decline in investment in the road network at national primary level and at national secondary load level, which is perhaps more insidious. This means tjat there are roads in my county and other counties in rural Ireland that are beginning to crumble, especially given the rainfall of the past two months. Many of us are old enough to remember the men who used to be out on the roads with a shovel. People used to wonder what they were doing. What they were doing, until the service was withdrawn as a result of lack of Government investment, was clearing drains and gullies on roadways to ensure the surfaces were maintained. I wish we had enough time to bring in the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to answer these questions. They are important questions on issues that are impacting on people living in small communities. I do not believe the Government has either the heart or the soul to commit to making their lives better.