Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

My main platform will be to stop these stupid directives from coming into this country.

People are being deprived because the constituency is so big and it is very difficult, even for an MEP to try to represent all these counties and all these constituencies.

The members of the commission are independent people and they do not have a political agenda. I would like to know if they went down to County Leitrim or to County Limerick. I would like to know whether they have ever stood in County Mayo to see one part of the county from the other. It is often the case that people in Dublin 4, 5, 6, and 7, make decisions about people's lives but they have never been in some of these counties. They do not understand what rural life is about.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, is sitting beside the Minister for Finance. I would never say that about him because he has an understanding of how rural life works and how rural people think. I hope he will educate the Minister for Finance and ensure Deputy Lenihan gives him the necessary funding. We should be able to keep the quality of life we have in rural Ireland, as well as keeping people in rural areas, without having the situation they have in Dublin, of which the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is aware.

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