I am going to move on to the next question because there is no point.

I want to raise the fact that Expressway has pulled out of providing services on route 4. We are faced with a public service obligation route being provided from Waterford to Carlow. I attended a public meeting on the matter in Mullinavat and have attended two further meetings since. I want to reflect the anger of the people who attended those meetings regarding the lack of a response from the National Transport Authority, NTA, and the lack of proper explanation from the very beginning of this debacle.

That is a statement of fact, I suppose, in respect of the response given but, in reality, it does not address the real issue of the connection between Waterford and other towns along the route to Dublin and Dublin Airport. There are students who use that route to go to college. There are those who visit the hospitals in Dublin and elsewhere, or those who go to the airport. There are those who are, maybe, socialising and use the bus service. It has been withdrawn. Bus Éireann has shown a total disregard for its cust…

We are missing the point here. The customers are central to all of this and their needs must be met in a modern world. The Minister of State talked earlier on about the need to use public transport. We talk about our carbon footprint and so on. This flies in the face of all of that. They are not being given the service in rural Ireland. There is a real problem here in regard to communication and providing the solution to this issue. The only solution is to speak to the customers and put on a service that will provi…

On the completion of the next phase of the Kilkenny ring road, I am seeking to establish what stage the process is at, when it is likely to be approved and when the funding will be made available. I made a recommendation to the Minister, because funding is coming directly from the Department's budget, that the €50 million or so needed to cover the project should be set aside in lump sums each year in order that when the planning process is completed, the necessary funding will be in place.

Just to be clear, there are two issues I am trying to address here. One is the completion of the next phase of the northern part of the ring road around Kilkenny. I ask the Department to liaise with Kilkenny County Council to proactively move that process and consideration forward so that we can get to the point of approval quickly. The completion of that section has been delayed for some time. I see no reason why we cannot look at the final phase of the project in order to ensure that there will be no time lost in…

TFI has failed.

There are a lot of cooks in the kitchen in the context of all of this. Sometimes, too many of them can spoil the dish. I ask that there be some communication between all of those involved, namely Kilkenny County Council, the transport infrastructure people and those responsible for funding in order that the mess they have made of the Black Quarry roundabout might be addressed and to prevent traffic from backing up right along the ring road. There is still a problem with safety that should be addressed. I accept wha…

While we are waiting, I welcome a group from Scoil Íosagáin, Coolgreany, who are guests of Deputy Ó Súilleabháin, to the Public Gallery. I hope they enjoy this morning's proceedings.

I ask Deputy Stanley to conclude.

Tánaiste-----

Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are related and may be discussed together, by agreement.

I ask Members to remain in the Chamber while Deputy Carthy moves amendment No. 2:

I have to interrupt you, Deputy Gannon. The time permitted for the debate having expired, I am required to put the following question in accordance with the order of the Dáil of 16 June: "That Fourth Stage is hereby completed and the Bill is hereby passed."

The Bill will now be sent to the Seanad.

Amendments Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Deputy Coppinger, please.

We will now move on to the next group of questions.

As we are due to finish questions at 4:26 p.m., I ask Members to keep to 30 seconds each or so.

The Taoiseach should not provoke him because we have only five minutes left, or two minutes.