asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he received a resolution from the Cork County Council in connection with the condition of the trunk road from Fermoy to Cork, and what steps, if any, are being taken to render the road passable for horse traffic.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Condition of Cork Road.
I have not received a resolution on this matter, but I note from a Press report of proceedings of the Council on the 10th October that members hold various views. This road is tar-surfaced for the whole length except for a short stretch of concrete construction at Glanmire. It has been tar sprayed with sandstone crushings or gravel for grouting. It is an excellent road and quite as passable for horse traffic as any other road in the country.
I have to inform the Minister that there is not a day that passes in which there is not a serious accident on that road. Horses are falling there daily, carts are broken and a great number of people injured. To my knowledge, the road is no more than a skating rink and in that portion of the country there is a great outery because of the fact that the farmers cannot take their farm produce into Fermoy over this road; also the people of Fermoy are bitterly complaining at the loss of their trade owing to the fact that the people of the district cannot take their horses and carts into the town. I want to know if the Minister is aware of these facts and whether or not he will adopt the suggestion of laying gravel for about two feet on each side of the road so that horses would be given a chance of walking along there without the danger of injury?
I think it was authoritatively stated at the meeting of the county council that the number of horses that fell on this road before it was ever tarred was as big as the number falling now.
I would like to know where the Minister got that statement. It did not appear in the public Press, and I am sure it did not appear in the minute he received either, for he received none.
I ask the Deputy was it not so stated at the meeting? My information is that it was so stated at the meeting of the county council and that that statement was published in the Press.
Would the Minister say——
Deputies cannot debate the matter further.