Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

That will increase, by all conservative estimates, to double that figure. This was done the day before the Government let it be known that Cork Airport Authority must take on a debt of €100 million — a pittance in comparison with what it will pay for the toll bridge, but then again one is in Dublin, the other is Cork. Dublin is to get €600 million of taxpayers' money so that traffic can move freely on the M50, while Cork gets a bill of €100 million which, no matter how one looks at it, will cripple the airport.

For the umpteenth time this Administration has walked away from pledges not worth the breath on which they were uttered. This is an Alice in Wonderland Government where words mean what the Government and the Ministers say they mean, but when we speak of Alice in Wonderland we must never forget Humpty Dumpty. Like Humpty Dumpty, this Government is in for a great fall and I hope the people of Cork will be the ones to push it.

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