asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the totally unsatisfactory condition of Kilresk Lane, St. Margaret's, County Dublin; if he will urge Dublin County Council to have (a) the dangerous and evil-smelling roadside ditch piped, and (b) the laneway properly widened and surfaced to its full length; and if his Department will take steps to remedy the serious flooding which regularly compels residents of Kilresk to make considerable detours across fields, many of which are sown.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Lane.
21.
The selection and execution of road works is a matter primarily for the local authority concerned and my Department is concerned only when approval is sought for the execution of works with the aid of State grants. There are no proposals in my Department for any works on this laneway and it is not my practice to recommend or direct a local authority to carry out particular works.
I understand, however, that only portion of this lane is in charge of the county council and will be given any necessary attention in the course of the current year's road programme, and that consideration will be given to the taking of the remainder of the lane in charge.
As this is No. 1 in the area which the Minister represents in the Dáil and with which he must therefore be concerned——
It does not get any special consideration from that point of view.
If that be the case, then it is a sad day for the people of County Dublin because they have long been neglected by the people in the seat the Minister now occupies because those people were not from County Dublin——
The Deputy would not suggest that they should get special attention?
The same as the people of every other county.
All other things being equal.
Deputy Dunne must ask a question and not make a speech.
Is the Minister aware that between 12 and 20 people are unable to proceed to work from their houses at the far end of this lane because the thoroughfare is made impassable by flooding? At times, people have to cross fields, which are often under crops, to go to Mass. This is not a customary complaint regarding roadways in disrepair. It is an unusual kind of matter in which the Minister's Department should take interest and about which something should be done. Would he make an exception in this case and make representations which, he says, he is not in the habit of doing on behalf of his long-suffering constituents?
The county council have undertaken to consider this year the taking of the remainder of the lane in charge, which is the portion to which the Deputy refers.
I have achieved something.
It has been achieved whether the Deputy——
I am afraid we would not have heard a word about it unless I raised the matter today.