Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

——but we need the further development and extension of the Luas. I am confident that this will happen as the Luas is a tremendous service taking us into the city centre. It now must go through the west Tallaght estates of Fettercairn and Brookfield and out into Saggart and Rathcoole. One will be able, in time, to access Tallaght through public transport in Dublin by getting the DART to Connolly Station and going to Heuston. Even our country cousins will be able to go to Tallaght and Citywest, and it is important that this is stated.

Community and school facilities also provide a challenge. I am again being parochial. We have great schools in my constituency and there is certainly a need for more schools. We need to look at the major population centres cropping up, such as those in Ballycullen, Westbrook and in the estates of west Tallaght. I hope Ministers listen to this debate, accept the points made and understand the need to develop infrastructure and facilities. I do not suggest that my constituency is unique in that respect, but it has those problems.

We have a very young population in Tallaght, with about 30,000 people still in school. We need to look at how we will deal with them as they exit the education system looking for jobs. Everyone in the House has his or her own priorities in that regard, but as Tallaght is the third largest population centre in the country, I am entitled to make a case for its job creation needs. We need to realise that many well qualified, highly educated young people will come from our communities in the next few years. There is much talk about other parts of the country and I will never criticise that. I have listened to the debate today about Shannon and the west of Ireland. However, there are also challenges in the east and we need to ensure that we cater for those in centres where jobs have been lost. By the way, I am not just talking about my constituent Brian Kerr, even though I am very upset that he has lost his job. I hoped someone would put down an emergency motion to deal with that issue, so that I could speak on it.

I want to be positive about the survey that is before us. It is good that we have this debate and I hope it is taken seriously across the House. It is important to emphasise what is positive about our country and our communities, while identifying difficulties. I hope the debate about migrant workers is developed responsibly. I contributed to the debate last week and I know the Minister took account of the different points made. It is important to understand the challenge posed by what is now an international community. Some Deputies will have noticed that last Saturday's magazine in The Irish Times highlighted my local school in Springfield, Tallaght, which now has a very large international community. That brings it owns challenges.

See this speech in context