I thank the Chair for the opportunity of raising this matter on the Adjournment. It arises out of two questions I had down today to the Minister for Local Government. One expressed concern about the unfinished state of a major road improvement at Fontstown on the Kilcullen/Athy Road, County Kildare, and the other was a request for enough money to bring the Kildare national primary roads up to standard. The latter question is down in my name and in the names of many other Deputies from the west and the south who are forced to travel along the Kildare Road on their way to Dublin.
During Question Time today the Minister suggested that when I had not a reasoned case to make I resorted to abuse. I am sorry he should construe my criticism as abuse, but I suppose when one is thin skinned and feels guilty, as the Minister must do, he is more susceptible to deserved criticism and feels resentful on that account.
The case I wish to make here tonight has already been made to the Minister by the county manager and the county engineer in a letter of the 4th February last to his Department. This case was made by two reasonable people. It was not advanced for any party political reasons or anything like that. It was advanced purely from a desire to improve the roads of Kildare or, failing that, even to maintain them at their present level. The Minister tried to indicate that he had knowledge of the last county council meeting in Kildare and that the county engineer had changed his mind since he wrote that letter. I attended that meeting and paid great attention to anything the county engineer said, or that anyone said on his behalf, and at no time was I made aware that the county engineer had changed his opinion about the allocation of money and the need for more money.
I should also tell the Minister that a Deputy from his own Party and county councillors from the two wings of the National Coalition looked for a deputation to visit him some time ago. I presume this request was conveyed to him but so far we have had no indication from the Minister that he is prepared to meet us. At Question Time today I advanced a theory that more money came out of Kildare by way of taxation of motor vehicles than was given back to us by way of road grant. The Minister appeared to disagree with me at that point. I hope to be in a position in the time allotted to me to show that £750,000 was gathered in Kildare last year from taxation of motor vehicles and we got back 72 per cent in grants. If the Road Fund keeps at the same level this year, it is hoped that £1 million will be collected in Kildare this year from motor taxation and if the Minister is as generous with us as he was last year, the least we should get would be £792,000. As I will show now, this is not the case.
The grant we got for the upkeep of national primary roads in 1976 was £94,000 and for the upkeep of national secondary roads we got £21,500—an allowance of £115,500 for the upkeep of both primary and secondary roads. For the improvement of our national primary roads we have been given the princely sum of £180,000. That has also to cover whatever improvements we might envisage for our national secondary roads. That is a total allocation for the upkeep and improvement of our national primary and national secondary roads of £295,000. We have already indicated to the Minister how it is proposed to spend the money on improving our national primary roads at various centres. We will spend £23,000 at Monasterevin and we will provide public lighting in Naas and Newbridge. I need hardly stress how important this is because with the great volume of traffic, our roads are very vulnerable to accidents. Our accident history in Kildare is deplorable.
A matter of vital importance was raised by Fine Gael councillors. They have very strong feelings about this. They are very vexed that the Minister has seen fit to provide only £10,000 to by-pass Naas. That £10,000 will be spent to build a bungalow for a lady whose house is in the line of the new road. The Minister has had second thoughts about the type of roads we should have. Also, we will spend £40,000 in the completion of works at Moyvalley, Maynooth, Leixlip and Kilcock while £100,000 will be spent at Moyvalley Bridge. In this way the £180,000 will be used. We received also a block grant of £170,000 for the improvement of our county roads and for traffic management works. I will endeavour to show that this amount will not go very far in the work we hope to undertake.
When he wrote to the Minister in February last the county manager expressed deep concern regarding the position in our county. He referred to a report he had had from the county engineer which indicated that the nature of the works required to cater for the volume of traffic in County Kildare was great. He pointed out that the county engineer's report had very serious implications regarding the continuation of employment of workers in the council service. He referred particularly to the position of lorry drivers and plant operators who were associated with the council's machinery yard. He pointed out that if sufficient money was not available by way of grant, it would not be possible to provide these people with an alternative form of employment because their services would not be used in the roadworks as a result of the decreased grants in that area. The county manager summed up the situation by saying that a substantial increase was needed in the grant allocation to Kildare County Council in the coming year and that if this was not forthcoming, he would be forced to lay off men who would normally find employment in the council services when money is made available to enable the council to undertake essential work on road improvements.
This is not an entirely selfish outlook because, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the improvement of the roads in Kildare would help the tourist industry particularly in the context of the west. I am confident that if any foreign industrialist thinking of setting up here were persuaded to travel out the western road, in order that he might examine potential locations in the west, by the time he would have negotiated the roads to Leixlip and Kilcock he would turn back because of the deplorable condition of this part of the journey. Resolutions have been passed by many other counties seeking to have the roads in Kildare improved. Recently, we adopted a resolution passed by Leitrim County Council in this regard. The appearance of the names of other Deputies on the Order Paper in this regard is an indication of their interest in the matter.
In his letter to the Department the county manager also said that instead of providing additional moneys for the coming year, central government had not taken into account the rate of inflation or the question of increased costs with the result that in real terms less money is being provided now than in former years. In the final paragraph of his letter he stressed that the implications for employment within the county were serious if more money were not forthcoming. He included with his letter a report from the county engineer. This man is highly qualified and is a wonderful engineer. He is not prone to using words lightly. No doubt he is held in high esteem by the various other members of his profession. In his report he indicated that for the past two years he has been very concerned regarding the works carried out in the county and that the present year was one of particular concern in this regard because the amount of grants in real money terms had been reduced with the effect that there was increasing over-expenditure on improvement works on both national primary and national secondary roads and that there was a marked decline in the standard of the upkeep of our roads.
He indicated, too, that in regard to our national primary roads we would need £587,000. The amount we received was £180,000. He made the point also that for the continuity of work it was necessary to be able to buy land in advance. At least two years should be the norm. It is hardly necessary for me to emphasise to the Minister the necessity of having a sufficient float and, if necessary, to obtain compulsory purchase orders.
When all these matters were taken into account, the county engineer assessed a figure of £620,000 as being our requirement in this field, whereas we received £180,000. He indicated how we proposed to spend the money. All that information is on the Minister's file, no doubt. There is reference to a continuation of the Naas-Newbridge dual carriageway which is needed badly and to the different improvement works required throughout the county. The county engineer's estimate was the least amount necessary. He pointed out that it does not indicate the total amount of work that is ready to be commenced but indicates the very least amount which we can hope to carry out. He indicated, too, that there had been a serious disruption in work in the county last year as a result of financial cutbacks. He pointed out that down through the years the county council had adopted a policy of providing their own machinery thereby enabling them to carry out the work and maximising the use of the machinery and the work force at their disposal. The county manager said it was unlikely that the national primary roads improvement grants for 1976 would reach a figure remotely approaching the required level.
He said he considered it necessary to outline the present financial commitments which the council faced in regard to work on national primary roads in the coming year, that we had already spent £128,000 and were committed to works of that nature. He pointed out also that the work force of 29 men would cost £60,000 to maintain in the coming year while the provision of the necessary machinery for roadworks in the same period would cost £55,000 and materials needed to carry out the work would cost £60,000. These figures are nothing more than survival figures, the lowest figures that could possibly be arrived at to warrant keeping men in employment and to warrant also the utilisation of existing machinery.
The county engineer emphasised the declining standards of our national roads and indicated that the amount of money we got in 1975 was not adequate to provide a proper level of maintenance of primary roads while important works such as surface dressing or bitumen carpeting had to be curtailed seriously and that a minimum of £100,000 would be necessary this year to provide even this low standard of upkeep. He warned the Minister that the continuation of the present policy would mean that in five years' time serious damage would have been wrought on the roads in our county which would necessitate the spending of very large sums of money in remedial work. He pointed out the effects which the dry weather conditions of the summer of 1975 had on roads which were based on bog ramparts.
Apparently, the Minister has not taken to heart the serious words of the county engineer who indicated, too, that of the block grant of £136,000 we received last year, £130,000 was spent on the main roads and that what we had left for improvement works on other main roads was not worth spending—a mere £5,585. He also indicated to the Minister that Kildare had faced up to their responsibilities every other year, had spent quite a lot of money on the main roads in the county and that any shortfall had always taken place in the allocation of grants from the Department of Local Government.
I also refer the Minister to his statement today regarding the amount of road fund grants received in Kildare and the amount of taxation gathered on the 1,800 registered vehicles in Kildare last year. In 1975 our grant was £545,810. We were 11th, behind Dublin and Cork, which we can well understand, and also Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Clare, Waterford, Kerry and Meath. It is hard to understand how we could be placed in that position with counties that have not the same mileage as we have and do not carry the same volume of traffic.
Kildare returned £750,000 last year in motor taxation and got 72 per cent of that in grants. In the coming year, with the new cost of registering cars, it should be £1.1 million and even on the same percentage we should be due £792,000. It was indicated to the Minister, if we had any hope of carrying out a programme with any continuity and not one of peaks and valleys, what would be the minimum amount that we would need to do this work. The Minister has not taken account of that.
It was also shown to the Minister that labour costs have increased from 1970 to date by 122 per cent. We base these figures on road workers' wages and also on the cost of materials which has increased very considerably. In relation to last year's costs it is anticipated that the increase will be something in the nature of 15 per cent to 20 per cent on the different materials that will be used.
We have put forward a very special case for Kildare which has not been put forward for party reasons but by two very competent people, the county manager and the county engineer. We have made a request to the Minister, even for survival, to allow us to keep up appearances. The statistics I gave are not invented by me. They are genuine.
I want to refer particularly to Question No. 7 in relation to Fontstown. This is an example of the unfinished business, owing to the shortage of money, in Kildare. At the March county council meeting grave concern was expressed by members of the Minister's party. We look on Kildare as an unfinished symphony. It is a very sad swan song on which to bow out. It is a reminder to anyone on the road to sweet Athy that the third Coalition are a perfect example of an old lesson we used to learn in school, olc, níos measa, is measa.
