Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I would like to make another comment on this matter and will come to the subject of the roads. The homestead of the Minister's father is in the Laytown-Bettystown area. Having read this motion, I believe it is time we in the Dáil had a reality check. We read in the newspapers before our resumption after the recess that, according to some top economists, there is to be an economic upturn. We are supposed to believe this; yet, when one goes home at the weekends and talks to businesspeople, one realises the economists are not telling the people the truth. The same applies to roads and water, the two most vital resources required in terms of making progress.

I did enough shouting at Christmas over what did and did not happen but would like to believe that what will happen will be the total opposite of what the Government is doing. There are 400,000 people unemployed. The road network to the left and right of the road on which the Minister travelled is such that one cannot pass when going to Duleek or Kentstown. The same applies in other counties. I noted this last week when I was in eight different counties throughout the four provinces. We cannot continue to allow roads to deteriorate.

The Minister is not in office for a long time but it is time he and other Ministers were taken out of their ministerial cars and brought for a proper spin. Instead of going to the Cheltenham races, they should be brought in an ordinary car-----

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