Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

There is a deep sense of betrayal in the regeneration communities in Limerick since the quotations from the Minister, Deputy O'Dea, on the front of The Irish Times on Saturday became public knowledge. I have had an opportunity to talk to people in those areas and there is a huge sense of despair. People's hopes were raised. Their hopes were raised previously in those areas but they were greatly raised in the context of the regeneration plans. Those of us who thought those plans looked a little too ambitious asked if it was wise to knock down all of the houses in Moyross and Carew Park. We raised a number of other concerns at the time but were basically told to shut up and that money was no object. We were told to stop raising questions because the plans would solve the problems of these areas, and people should go along with them.

Since the weekend I have spoken to one of the community leaders who had put her head above the parapet and given up her time to go to meeting after meeting. She was being told constantly that this regeneration would happen and that the Government said that money would not be a problem. Even though the people might think they could not change their areas to the extent they said they would change them, they were told it would happen. That woman has to go back to her neighbours and try to explain that she was not leading them by the nose but that it was the Government that led them astray.

I lay much of the blame squarely on the back of the Minister, Deputy O'Dea. There is always somewhere over the rainbow whenever we get bad news from the Minister. When the Dell job losses were announced we heard approximately 700 jobs would be coming from some fictional company that never materialised.

Even when the Minister announced on Saturday that the State could not deliver the €1.7 billion for Limerick regeneration, he talked about some builders investing a couple of hundred million euro. I do not know who they are or from where they are getting the couple of hundred million euro. In the context of the budget, the re-financing of the banks and the financial fiasco in this country I do not know who will lend them the couple of hundred million euro but the Minister cannot resist presenting these guys riding in on horses on the brow of the hill ready to jump in and solve the problem when what we need is Government commitment to building. We do not want a commitment to knock down buildings or buy houses in the county or wherever but to rebuild these communities. They are worse off now than they were before all this started because of the anti-social problems and the rats associated with empty houses.

We must be honest about this. We have got to see a practical response from Government. We must see houses built in these areas. A number of senior citizens projects are planned. I would like to hear from the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, and receive a guarantee that funding will be made available for those projects this year.

There are other infrastructural projects, such as a railway station in Moyross and a link road to Limerick Institute of Technology. There are similar projects in other areas, including an all-weather pitch in the St. Mary's Park area. These are the kind of projects that will make life better for people. It is most unfair to people who hoped they would be able to raise their kids or see out their elderly years in a better environment to hear on the national airwaves and read in the national newspapers that the money is not forthcoming. We need honesty and for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to visit Limerick to explain what can be feasibly delivered in the affected areas.

If people are going to get the information filtered through the Minister for Defence, Deputy Willie O'Dea, they are not going to get the truth because he cannot resist fiction. I apologise for attacking the Minister in such a way but one must appreciate that he will present any picture if he believes it will deliver votes. That is not what the communities affected need. They need all parties working together to bring about the regeneration project. All Members from Limerick, including the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Power, are willing to work together on these issues. We do not need some guy riding out pretending he is doing the whole thing himself.

I feel very strongly that the people in these estates have been let down. We need a proper and complete Government response led by the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, and the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Michael Finneran, not fiction.

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