Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Time and tide wait for no man. County Kerry's key attraction is tourism. The county has experienced €20 million worth of damage as some of my colleagues have outlined. Enormous damage has been done to places such as Ballybunion, Barrow, Ballyheigue, Kells, Cromane and Rossbeigh. I spoke to the Minister of State earlier about job creation in Kerry. Tourism is where it is at and we need to get that solved. We are talking about the Wild Atlantic Way at the moment. We will not have the attraction for next summer. It is important not only for the purposes of environmental protection, but also for job protection.

The Government needs to give priority to areas where the damage that has been done to the coastline is of significance to the people and not just the environment. I would put Kerry at the forefront in that regard. Kerry is different from places such as Galway and Clare in that we have soft coastline. We have sand dunes that are special areas of conservation and we have been instructed by the European Union to look after them. As a result there is an argument for us to go to Europe and make the point that if we are being asked neutralise and sterilise pieces of land for the betterment of the European Union as prescribed under the habitats directive, it should come forward with money to protect them. Individuals in Kilshannig in Castlegregory were isolated in their homes and could not get back into the mainland. Part of the tombolo was affected.

Counties such as Kerry need to be addressed with immediate effect. I seek a response as to how this will be done.

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