Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Seeking an exemption for one particular development is not the way to make law, and I have sympathy with the Minister on that. However, I know what Deputy Ring is talking about as I visited Westport House last summer. He is right about the focus it provides for the attraction of business in Westport and west Mayo in general. Given what he is confronting, how else is he to address the issue?

When the former Senator, Déirdre de Búrca, decided to hang up her boots she said that Fianna Fáil were running rings around the Green Party. This is a perfect example of what she had in mind because the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, knows that her backbenchers broke up in uncontrollable laughter when this measure was introduced. As far as they are concerned, it has no application. If there was a windfall tax during the height of the boom - albeit 80% is a generous one - one could see the point of it. I can see the point of it but the problem is the manner in which this has been done, the way it has been pitched, the fact that it has not been subjected to any discussion and that it is generally considered by the business community to have no relevance whatsoever because it simply does not arise, yet it has the implications Deputy Ring highlighted for a meritorious project in terms of attracting euro and other denominations from outside the State.

The Minister ought to be able to give Deputy Ring a more meaningful reply than saying we cannot legislate for this, and tough luck. Where there is the prospect of generating some economic activity and maintaining some local employment, we cannot afford to turn our backs on a project such as this one.

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