Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Crawford is correct that the money should be additional rather than being used in substitution for other funds. The funds from PEACE II, INTERREG and the peace dividend were meant to be additional funds for the region. I had an interesting discussion the other day with an individual who complained to me about traffic in the Meath constituency. In his next breath he complained about decentralisation. I had great difficulty in relating to him that the decentralisation of jobs could solve the traffic problems. Unfortunately, he did not agree with me.

See this speech in context