Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

The Minister might not be going himself. The Ministers should be brought along the ordinary roads. They are complete deathtraps.

Last weekend, my phone was hopping. My house is full of bills left with me by constituents in the hope that the county councils will repair their cars. It is a complete nightmare. I refer not only to the roads for which the local authorities are responsible but also to the roads for which the NRA is responsible. The N52 from Dundalk to Tipperary is a complete disaster. I went to a funeral in Kells on Saturday and noted three roads out of the town were closed due to accidents. One was the main road from Kells to Navan, another was the N52 and the other was into Moynalty, yet the plan is not to allocate funding.

The same applies in respect of water, a basic need. Housing estate after housing estate is without water. Ballivor in County Meath is still without water. The houses to the left and right of the road on which the Minister travelled have no water. It was only four years ago that I realised 50% of our water is lost. What better way is there for the Government to create employment than to invest in the two phenomena that will ultimately ensure the country gets back on its feet, roads and water? Water is life.

Hauliers will not travel on the roads or go to the garages anymore because they cannot afford to do so. Garages are at a standstill because people cannot afford to fix their cars. Our engineers, plumbers and carpenters are all in Australia. Every last person from my village had to leave this country.

The Ministers should start taking control of their Departments and get rid of their advisers, who are covering up for them. They covered up for the Ministers at Christmas. I learned that although I am a slow learner. The advisers did not go to the Ministers' Departments and tell them the truth. We were told the problem that arose was Fine Gael's problem. This was stated in an e-mail to journalists. It was actually the problem of the Government that the people were experiencing hardship.

At Christmas people were spending a little, as one will learn if one talks to the traders on Grafton Street. However, it all stopped during the first week in January. The head adviser to the Minister for Finance, about whom one reads in the newspaper today, is away with the fairies. The VAT returns for January and February will prove to be the worst in the history of the State. I predict this because I talked to people on the ground. Shop after shop has closed. There has not been a load of concrete delivered and there is no plan to build anything. There are 400,000 unemployed.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should stop making cuts repeatedly and engaging in chequebook government. That is not the way to run a business. While one must tighten one's belt, one should not stop investing. Some 400,000 are unemployed and we expect another 75,000 to join them.

I was ashamed of my life to learn on "The Frontline" last night that our plan is to start leasing houses and covering up. If this country is to make progress, the Ministers must acknowledge what real life entails. People are in desperation and houses will be repossessed one by one because we have looked after a group of people who have conned the Minister for Finance. They will not tell him the truth and, at this stage, he does not want to know the truth. If one wants to run a country, one must invest in its basic infrastructure.

Last week, the Minister for Transport delivered an eight-page speech complimenting people on all the work they did. Those people are paid to do the work. Nobody compliments me on the work I do; I am paid to do it and do not care what people say. One does not have to write eight pages complimenting people on the work they are doing when they are paid to do it. In spite of staff leaving the councils, the Government will not hire engineers and front-line staff. We are going nowhere until someone on the Government Front Bench takes responsibility and realises what is happening in the country.

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