Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State said to join him on a journey. I have been on many journeys through rural Ireland in my lifetime. The last journey I joined was Mr. Pat Spillane's journey. It did not work out, though not through any fault of his. He was passionate, wanted it to work out, but it did not happen. I am worried that this plan is very much a copy and paste or whatever it is called. The Minister of State spoke about people not being negative, and is correct in that. It is hard but, if one wants to talk honestly about rural Ireland and comes from it, one sometimes has to look at the negative things there that are making life very difficult for people. There are a few issues there and I have listened to what the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, has had to say in the last couple of minutes. I would jump over there and pat him on the back because a lot of what he said was from the heart.

I am afraid that I would not in any way be in favour of what the gentleman to my left, the Senator, said about verge-cutting. It is a huge issue for rural Ireland. We are not environmental monsters. We are protective of our communities. I always felt that the responsibility for verge-cutting should never have gone from the local authority. I am convinced that is the only way it can be carried out. I am in west Cork. In fairness to the Cork county council, it has an initiative where it part-funds the verge-cutting if communities want to come and get involved. As the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, said, nobody could take that away from the Wild Atlantic Way. The success of that has been incredible, though planning permission is a massive issue which has been going on for many years.

The Minister of State mentioned jobs. The biggest employer in my area at the moment is Turas Nua. This new initiative that the Government set up for people that are unemployed-----