Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues for sharing their time.

One would have expected the Tánaiste to reflect on the provisions of last year's budget before introducing the present one. A glaring example of his failure to implement the last budget was the provision for boosting tourism in rural Ireland. He announced tax incentives for tourism-related projects in the middle Shannon region, part of which lies in his constituency. After several letters were written by people, who are anxious to take the opportunity to develop tourism in this area, to the various Ministers with responsibility for implementing this scheme, the reply to a parliamentary question I put down last week revealed that guidelines have not yet been put in place for the implementation of the scheme by the Department of Finance or the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Application forms are not yet available and the board which was to oversee the projects has not been appointed. The Government has not even sent the details of the scheme to Europe for ratification.

Development in rural Ireland, particularly in tourism, must not be a priority for the Government if the Tánaiste is not prepared to progress this scheme in parts of his constituency. A pilot scheme implemented in the upper Shannon region by the previous Minister for Finance kick-started development there but the Tánaiste has neglected the middle Shannon region. Nothing has been done on the ground so where have the funds gone that were provided last year?

Several of the Tánaiste's proposals for the transport sector are welcome, particularly the western railway corridor between Athenry and Ennis. It is hoped that work will continue on this important part of the infrastructure of the west. However, if the Government, the NRA and local authorities throughout the country are serious about road safety, why did the NRA decide to withdraw 11 proposals to develop rest areas along national primary routes? It is a bizarre decision, particularly in the aftermath of last week's tragic accident in County Meath in which a family had to stop on the side of a national route and a child was killed when a van hit their car. If the Minister for Transport appreciates the country's concerns regarding road safety, I urge him to direct the NRA to change its nonsensical proposal. Much has been said about the matter and attempts have been made to address it but the 200 road deaths in the past five years which were attributable to driver fatigue make clear the importance of reverting to the original plan to provide rest areas. The reasons given by the NRA for its decision in terms of anti-social behaviour and even prostitution are ludicrous in the extreme. As long as it continues dreaming in that way, it is certainly not interested in road safety.

A number of Deputies have noted failures in areas of the budget, the first casualty of which is education. Recently the Minister for Education and Science directed that 30 school projects be halted. While she did not give a reason for her decision, the country's cats and dogs know it was because of inadequate funding. Now that additional funding for capital projects has been announced, will the aforementioned 30 projects be progressed? Many projects have been implemented in rural schools and efforts have been made to provide reasonable conditions for students and staff, but the limits to the funding provided must be revised so as to return the initiative to local boards of management. How will the Minister support the additional 13,000 students in the coming year with the resources available to her? She has hidden for the past two days because she failed at Cabinet to get adequate funding for education.

We were told that an additional €35 million has been provided for cancer care. I have asked the Minister for Health and Children about the funding available to hospitals from which cancer services have transferred. Have the funds and personnel for these services also been transferred and, if so, what will this entail? It is clear from the increase in the charge for accident and emergency services from €60 to €66 that the Government is attempting to create a smokescreen to allow it to introduce another dirty dozen cutbacks which will affect the old, the sick and the needy.

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