This question is to ask the Minister to outline to the House his priorities for 2024. Can he refer to SUSI and what improvements we will see this year for students? What will that mean for those individual students?

I thank the Minister. That is a comprehensive suite of measures that he has secured in the most recent budget and over a number of years. I welcome that. It makes a massive difference to students and their families all over the country. At a Government level, these things might seem like a small change but they can be hugely significant for families, for people who are struggling and for those who are trying to improve their futures and prospects. I welcome every measure that has been taken to date. There are alway…

On the income thresholds and SUSI, in particular, we have a massive shortage of skills and labour in the tourism and hospitality sector and there is a disincentive for many young people. I worked right through college and school, on weekends and even on weeknights, to try to help pay my way through college. For the SUSI gross income consideration, all of that income should be disregarded or there should be stronger disregards. It is an area I ask the Minister to look at. Not only would it benefit the families and s…

I ask the Minister about local improvement schemes. I acknowledge the effort she has made to provide funding over recent years to try to clear the lists nationwide but almost one in five of all roads that are awaiting improvements nationwide are in County Kerry and we need substantially more funding to try to clear the list. As it currently stands, there are more than 600 roads for which people are waiting. These are people who paid their taxes and who are trying to travel these roads in their cars, on bicycles and…

The question concerns the N22, in particular the section of road between Macroom and Ballincollig on the Cork city side of the newly developed Macroom to Ballyvourney bypass. Will the Minister update the House on the progress on this project and whether it will be included in the review of the NDP? It is a vital part of the jigsaw in regard to the Cork to Tralee economic corridor and it is badly needed for the south-west region.

I believe this project has to be in the NDP because it is that important from a regional point of view. It is not even in my own constituency but it is very important for the south west region and for the economic corridor between Cork city and Tralee. I know it is not a road the Minister would travel often but a hell of a lot of my constituents travel that road every day to work in Cork city. Cork is the main economic centre of the southern economy and many of us depend on Cork for employment, income, healthcare, …

I concur with what Deputy Creed said. The vision must be there. I am always reluctant to raise road projects, particularly new ones, with the Minister in the Chamber because it has been a recipe for abject disappointment over the past number of years. I know that we are quite different ideologically with regard to our views on these issues but the reality is that, as Deputy Creed pointed out, this project will be needed for future generations. This is something that is critical to the regional economy. Public trans…

Thank you but how many have-----

That started before the Minister came into office.

We were there for the signing of the tenders. I was the Minister of State at the time.

I will.

This question relates to the roads project from the Tralee side of Farranfore to the Cork side of Killarney. It is an important part of that Tralee-Cork corridor that we spoke about earlier. It is a highly dangerous section of road at present. It has high fatality figures as well. The Minister might update the House on recent statistics and projections by TII on what will happen if there is not an intervention. The congestion around Killarney, as discussed previously, is only part of this problem. That bigger conne…

I thank the Minister. This is an important project for my county and the region. I hope that the Minister will find it in his heart in the coming weeks, when the TII allocations for 2024 are being granted, to provide adequate funding to progress this project. We are looking forward to seeing the preferred corridor, hopefully in the first quarter of 2024, but progress needs to continue after that. I asked the Minister earlier - he might update the House on this - about the projected fatality figures that TII has giv…

They are all important projects. It is all relative in terms of where one is and what one is doing. In terms of the reality of the situation here, I have asked the Minister on a number of occasions this morning for the projected road fatalities and he has avoided the question. With all due respect, we have to be real about things here. The Minister has been given those figures. I know he has. Why can the Minister not address them in the House? What is the issue? Why can the Minister not face up to the fact that TII…

The Minister should have.

It was in the written question.

That is not good enough. We are talking about people's lives here. We are talking about road projects and the cost involved. The Minister does not have those figures and I put it in the written question on both questions.

The Minister has to acknowledge there is a cost.

There is a cost, though, with that ideology.

I absolutely accept the Minister's bona fides but he has to acknowledge the cost.