Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Darren Scully, a young candidate running for election to the Dáil for the first time, has a great deal to offer and is a fine public speaker. Without any doubt he will be an excellent Dáil Deputy after the by-election.

The by-election will give Government Deputies an opportunity to visit County Kildare which is a microcosm of the country, in particular the east of the country. They will see the lack of adequate schools, hospital and health services, and policing in terms of the numbers of gardaí promised before the previous general election. They will see the failure to deliver. They will see the number of pre-fab schools, primary and secondary, throughout the constituency. It is disgraceful that in this much-vaunted economy, children exist in such primeval conditions. That is something from which the Government Deputies will learn. They will be able to examine our roads, another area given Government attention recently in terms of the billions it expects to spend on them. They will be able to see the roads and potholes and that every by-road in the place a disgrace.

Members of the Government will be very welcome in the constituency, since they will be able to see their own work at first hand. They will also be able to see the disgraceful housing situation, with 3,500 young families on the housing list, many of whom have been sitting there for the last seven years. They will be there for another seven years unless the electorate in Kildare decides otherwise, as I believe they will.

It will also give an opportunity to both Ministers and backbenchers on the Government side to come forward and see the commuter traffic passing through County Kildare, with people heading far into the country to where they must buy houses, travelling 50, 60 or 70 miles morning and evening to and from work. It will give a great opportunity to Government Deputies to see the effects of this decentralisation at first hand. They had not planned it, except by way of squeezing the young population out of their houses. It will give Ministers and backbenchers an opportunity to see the number of applications for medical cards and rent support that has been refused recently. Seriously ill people have sought rent support and been refused in this much-vaunted economy.

It will give Ministers, Ministers of State and backbenchers a chance to come to County Kildare and see the results of their handiwork. They will see at first hand that all is not as they present it. It will not be a time for spindoctors but for reality. Reality TV is about to come of age, and I have no doubt that Darren Scully will be victorious, something that I will do my utmost to ensure.

We should pay tribute to those other candidates in the race. There is no doubt that they are people of integrity, and that will be seen in the course of the election.

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