Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

This area is already jam-packed for hours every day. What is to happen to the tens of thousands of commuters who must cross the M50 to travel to and from work and who will be caught in a further incredible log-jam? The Taoiseach still allows building to proceed without the infrastructure. I welcome the Adamstown initiative for the new community there. However areas such as Ongar and Tyrellstown, the fastest-growing communities in Europe, are left bereft. For the past two Mondays, with other public representatives, I have attended public meetings in those communities. On both occasions, they were obliged to travel for miles to get a venue because there is no community centre. It is true that one of them has a €40 million hotel across the road. The Taoiseach should know this because he opened it and is a friend of its developer. However, when the residents asked whether they could meet there, the reply was that they could but that it would cost them €600 for two hours. This is the extent of the Government's betrayal of new communities in terms of infrastructure. The position regarding schools——

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