asked the Minister for the Environment if he has yet finalised negotiations whereby the Department of Fisheries and Forestry will reinstate roads which have been damaged in the course of extracting timber from forests.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Road Repairs.
14.
Mr. Coughlan
My predecessor brought this matter to the attention of the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry last year. I understand that his Department are considering the matter at present.
Mr. Coughlan
I do not wish to raise Supplementary Questions on every item but I ask the Minister, in all sincerity, to ensure that some final decision will be reached in this instance because a number of people have had their roads, as well as access to the their homes and property destroyed? The county council keep referring the matter back to the Department. It is about time a decision was taken. I urge the Minister of State to finalise this matter.
I have read the file and I share the Deputy's concern. It concerns not only one particular area of the country but any area where there are forests has this problem and the roads are affected. It is tied up between three Departments, the Department of Forestry and Fisheries, my Department and the Department of Finance. It is in the interests of all, but particularly of local authorities, to get a resolution of this problem as soon as possible. I assure the Deputy that I will be moving on it as quickly as I can.
Is the Minister of State aware that this problem will become aggravated with the opening of the timber-based industry in Tipperary this year, that huge loads of timber will have to be carried on our roads and this is something that needs immediate attention? Does he not feel that his Department must have a financial input to solve this problem, which needs to be solved this year?
I believe we have to have an input but I believe that some of the profit, which will now fortunately be generated from our State forests, will in part have to be contributed towards the upkeep of the roads, particularly county roads, which were never designed to carry the kind of traffic that will be generated along them. It will be my concern to ensure that some portion of the wealth that will come from the State forests will be used to ensure that people living adjacent to State forests will not suffer by having the roads churned up by heavy vehicles.
15.
Mr. Coughlan
asked the Minister for the Environment if every effort will be made in 1983 to have an emergency programme of repairs carried out on county roads.
It is solely a matter for each county council to plan, to provide the finance required, and to execute whatever programme of maintenance works on county roads they may adopt for 1983. I have no function in this matter.
Mr. Coughlan
Would the Minister of State's Department be prepared to allow particular local authorities, who have a very large mileage of county roads an allocation of some funds from their national primary route grant or other grants to the block grant, which is the only source of revenue available to the local authorities at the moment for the repair of county roads? In Donegal we find that we can surface roads only once every 17 years and this is very unsatisfactory.
I recognise that in the Deputy's constituency of Donegal, which has a substantial tourist dimension to it, there are arguments in favour of the case he is putting forward. I suggest that if the county council, the elected members and the officials, can put up a sustainable case I will certainly look at it. If it means that we invest efficiently in the road system then I am predisposed to look at it sympathetically.
This problem is just not unique in Donegal. It is a national problem. I suggest that there is sufficient information available on files in the Department from every county to assist the Minister in making a decision on this. It is a question of finance. The Minister of State is well aware of the problem because he and his party colleagues, together with members of the other party who form the Government, accompanied deputations to me when I was in the Department. Can the Minister say if extra money will be made available in the budget this year to help the local authorities in regard to the county roads programme?
The Deputy would seem to be anticipating a debate which will arise out of the budget.
Therefore, I cannot give the information at this stage.
Has the Minister considered the ludicrous situation whereby payments have to be made by the Department of Social Welfare as a result of local authorities putting men on three-day weeks at the end of each year. This is a matter that has been raised by many other Members, including the Ceann Comhairle.
That would seem to be a separate question. We cannot discuss at this point the whole area of the Department of the Environment plus the Department of Social Welfare.
While I accept your ruling, I suggest that the question is not separate on the basis that it deals with the protection of taxpayers' money that has been invested in our county roads system. We are trying to maintain that investment and I should like to hear what the plans are in this area.
While it is not my immediate responsibility, I can tell the Deputy that the Government are aware of the apparent contradiction in what he has described and that it is our intention to ascertain in what way the problem can be solved.
This must be a final supplementary on this question.
In view of the large county road mileage in County Galway and also of the importance of the tourist industry there, would the Minister of State be prepared to make the same offer in regard to my county as he has made to Deputy Coughlan in respect of County Donegal? Is the Minister aware that Galway County Council have made a very special submission to his Department outlining the particular difficulties they have experienced in recent years in regard to the matter of road deterioration?
I was not aware that a detailed submission had come from Galway County Council but I will look into the matter and communicate with the Deputy.
The Minister may take it that there is a detailed submission from every county.