asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he has read the report of proceedings of a meeting of Motor Owners' Associations and users of roads in Cork county, held in Cork on the 15th instant, at which members generally commented strongly on the scandalous condition of the main roads in Cork County; whether he can state the contributory causes to this condition of the roads in this county, whether it is from lack of funds, incompetence or inefficiency on the part of the supervising staff, or want of sense of civic responsibility on the part of the local authorities; further, whether he will instruct an Inspector from his department to hold an inquiry at an early date into these matters and fix responsibility, and whether such Inspector's report will be placed on the Table of the Dáil; and, also, whether he will state the amount of moneys annually contributed by taxpayers for the maintenance of roads in that county.
CEISTEANNA.—QUESTIONS. [ORAL ANSWERS.] - CONDITION OF CO. CORK ROADS.
I have read the report referred to. No doubt the unsatisfactory conditions obtaining are largely due to impaired administration and slackness in work during the lengthy period of disordered conditions which prevailed in the county. The Chief Roads Engineer will undertake local inspection; he will be asked to submit a full report which, as requested, will be placed on the Table of the Dáil. The amount contributed by the ratepayers for road maintenance in the county, excluding the County Borough of Cork, is about £180,000 per annum. Since September last the grants allocated for road improvement in the county, excluding the city, amounted to £110,000.
Arising out of that answer, may I ask the Minister if his attention has been called to correspondence in the Press under yesterdays' date in which a traveller writes, after having seen the Cork roads: "I have seen better roads made in Central Africa by barefooted natives with home-made wooden mallets"?
I do not believe that the Minister for Local Government has seen that recent correspondence.
Can the Minister tell us, in view of the fact that the upkeep of roads at present in the Cork county costs £180,000, what these roads would cost if they were kept in proper repair and maintained in proper order?
That again is a question based on hypothesis. I cannot answer it at the moment.
Has the Minister, in calculating that £180,000, taken into account the 6d. in the £ on the rateable value of property under the Compensation for Damages Act, 1923?
I think that would be excluded by the particular sentence in the question that I have read, "the amount contributed by the ratepayers for road maintenance." It is very general, but I think the 6d. under the Property Compensation Act would be excluded.
Therefore, the rates are very much greater than what is represented by the figure £180,000.
That is my impression, but I do not put that forward as the impression of the Minister for Local Government, who knows more about it.
Is the Minister aware that in the Northern Counties of the Saorstát and in Leinster, where the rates are not so high, that the roads are in excellent order?
That may well be, but it could be explained by the fact that "the unsatisfactory conditions are largely due to impaired administration and slackness in work during the lengthy period of disordered conditions which prevailed in County Cork."
Can the Minister say whether the cry, "Up, Cork," means "Up the Cork roads?"