Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I welcome many of the improvements that have taken place in the programme for Government. I welcome the confidence, vibrancy and can-do attitude in modern Ireland, which did not all come from Fianna Fáil. It is important to welcome the vibrancy and the aspects that came from the Government. I object, however, to the development of a two-tier Ireland where success is for the chosen few and if a person does not have the resources to succeed, the Government will not provide them.

I welcome the Luas lines that have been opened. The Minister's predecessor, Deputy Brennan, first commissioned a study of the issue in 1988 and Fianna Fáil put up billboards in the 1991 local elections promising light rail for Dublin but it took a further 14 years to deliver on the promise. I take with a pinch of salt the promise that the Government will build a rail line between here and Navan by the next general election and that the Luas will be running to Shankill-Cherrywood and beyond a couple of years afterwards. I see no strong commitment to public transport on the part of the Minister relative to the amount of motorway he has built. He is throwing motorways about like snuff at a wake while public transport gets the crumbs from the transport table, about 20% of capital funding. Greater funding should be provided for it.

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