Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I suggest we need somebody there at whom we can have a good laugh. I say that as a joke. I welcome the Minister's comments although I did not hear them all clearly. However, I note that he mentioned a report that he has commissioned and which will be ready shortly. I ask the Minister to put it in the public domain as soon as possible. I welcome his commitment on the North-South issue of spatial strategy. Recently, I attended an SDLP conference on North-South spatial strategy which was useful. The problem, and this is one the Minister would have in commuting to and from Dublin City, is that our roads on the east coast are continually clogged. No matter how early one rises in the morning one can still have to wait at least an hour or an hour and a half to get through the hub or the gateway into the city at the port tunnel. The east coast is being developed exclusively. It is no longer sustainable to live along the east coast. If people have to travel their commuting time takes longer and their contact times with families are short. I ask the Minister to accelerate his commitment to the regional hubs and particularly those hubs and growth centres in the west and the transport corridors thereto, because that is where we can share the wealth and the prosperity of our nation by bringing the jobs to those areas rather than locating them all in Dublin.

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