Infrastructure Plan: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-28
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Peter 'Chap' Cleere (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

Not only that but Thomastown was also approved in 2018 and the scheme has not been advanced at all. Why can these schemes not be run concurrently? Why do we have to do Graiguenamanagh and let that get to this stage and all the rest of them are sitting on a shelf waiting to go? Staff are already employed by Kilkenny County Council to progress these schemes. Surely to God, in this day and age, when we are taking about infrastructure, we can make sure that schemes can run concurrently and the ball can start rolling. This has been going on years. I am only in this Chamber a year. This is ten years ago. I saw a photo recently of Graiguenamanagh in 1926 when flooding happened and yet nothing has happened.
I pay tribute to the staff of Kilkenny and Carlow County Councils in terms of the area staff but also all the road crews and the fire services in both counties for the incredible work they have done over the past number of days making sure our people, our citizens, are safe. However, there is a huge clean-up job to be done as well, so additional funding is going to be required. I am calling the Minister of State to speak with his colleagues and with the powers that be to make sure funding is made available for the clean-up operation and for the deterioration of the road infrastructure that is happening right around the country. I have loads of examples from the past couple of days in the Rower, Graiguenamanagh, Skeaghvasteen, Gowran, Ballyhale, Dungarvan, Borris and St. Mullins where roads are falling away due to the devastation caused by and the impact of the flooding or the rainfall in January.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28