Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Is it not a fact, as a result of this circular letter, that local authority work is coming to a halt up and down the country? Is it not now the time to put thousands of people to work who have become unemployed due to the building collapse? They can be put to work improving our local roads, local bypasses, dangerous bridges and visibility at junctions. The Government can select small and medium-sized enterprises to do this work. The circular stated that all expenditure must equal total income, which means that the authorities cannot borrow unless they have the money in the first place, and that buying for the construction of purchased assets must be controlled. This is the key time to have these schemes operating in our local authorities up and down the country.

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