Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I welcome moving of the writ for the Dublin West by-election. Before I say anything else, it is important and appropriate to for me speak about Mr. Brian Lenihan, whose sad departure gave rise to this by-election. He was a very good constituency colleague. He always wanted to solve problems locally. He often solved them quietly rather than running to the media or the barricades as others tend to do. He was always willing to share information and to give the secret story of what was going on in government, even if that might not have been in his interests much of the time. We had some very interesting chats. He was very generous to the Opposition Deputies in his constituency. He will be sadly missed by Fianna Fáil supporters and everyone in the Dublin West constituency, including those who did not vote for him.

One of Brian Lenihan's last achievements was to obtain €3 million in funding from the Vote of the Office of Public Works for the upgrading of Chesterfield Avenue, which runs through the Phoenix Park. In the very last leaflet he dropped in Castleknock, he claimed credit for securing the funds for the work in question. It is happening in the winter rather than the summer because the tender was delayed. I am pleased that Mr. Brian Lenihan's final achievement is being delivered on now, even if Deputy Martin and Councillor McGuinness think it is a terrible thing to do. I agree with Mr. Brian Lenihan on that one. The work needs to be done, even if it causes disruption in the Phoenix Park over the next few weeks. Given that the money might not be there next year, it is important that the work is done this year. At least the road will not fall apart altogether if we have a very cold winter. I am grateful to my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Brian Hayes, for ensuring this money is being spent. Of course, the Minister of State is Fine Gael's director of elections for the Dublin West by-election. I hope the success he enjoyed as director of elections for the Dublin South by-election two years ago will be repeated on this occasion.

This vacancy is being filled within a six-month period. That is a good change. When we were in opposition, we promised that if we got into government, Dáil vacancies would be filled within six months. We passed legislation in this House to facilitate that. It is welcome that by-elections will be held to fill vacancies within six months from now on.

The Leader of the Opposition mentioned metro west. I assure him it was nowhere near shovel ready. It was planned to proceed with an oral hearing in a few weeks' time. That would have cost the State and the many local interests who were objecting to the project a great deal of money. We all understand that even if a railway order had been secured, the project would not have gone ahead during the period of the order. We would have had to go through the entire process again after several years, by which time the planning and environmental laws and railway technology may have changed. On the advice of the National Transport Authority, I decided it was prudent to save the taxpayer at least €500,000 by not proceeding with the oral hearing. When it appears that we have the money to fund the project, we will go ahead with the oral hearing. I am very glad the decision has been welcomed by An Taisce and by some of the community groups, particularly in the Lucan area.

What we had under the previous Government was denial. Three years ago, the economy collapsed and it was very clear at that stage to anyone who could add and subtract that many of the major capital projects could not be afforded. The last Government could not face up to this so it spent hundreds of millions of euros on planning, design, consultants and all the rest for projects it knew it could not fund. It is my job as Minister responsible for transport to put a stop to this and to ensure our limited funds go, first, into maintenance and, after that, into improving existing infrastructure. Only then will we put money into new projects. It is important that instead of spending money planning ten or 15 projects we cannot afford to build, we would perhaps go ahead with one we can build. In that way, we can at least improve people's lives.

I visited James Connolly Memorial Hospital yesterday with the Ministers, Deputies Burton and Reilly, for the opening of the new endoscopy suite, which is a major part of the investment in the hospital. I am very pleased the Minister, Deputy Reilly, confirmed that there is no question of the hospital being closed and that there are no plans to end the 24-hour accident and emergency service. That is not even in the back of his mind and would not make sense in any case. I thought it was very important that he made those statements publicly. I call on members of Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party to stop scaring people and trying to scare up votes by peddling mistruths on the issue of accident and emergency services.

The hospital is 5% over budget. As a result, there will have to be some cutbacks in services between now and the end of the year. This is what has to happen if people go over budget. For example, I have to bring my Department in on budget and one of the measures I have taken to achieve that is to reduce the size of my office by 25%. I would expect people in the health service to co-operate with whatever is necessary to bring hospitals in on budget. The era when people overspend, knowing they will get extra money at the end of the year, is over. Hospitals get their budget at the start of the year and they stick to it. That is the way proper government works.

I referred earlier to Deputy Martin's comments on Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park. I watched the Socialist Party candidate last night belittling and mocking the fact that the Government has provided money for all-weather pitches in Hartstown and Clonee, and she suggested that, somehow, these would not be built following the by-election. I can assure the House they will be as I will make sure they are. I look forward to greeting Councillor Coppinger when I open those pitches in the new year and I look forward to providing many other all-weather pitches throughout the Mulhuddart electoral area and other areas where they will be very much needed in coming years.

I commend Councillor Eithne Loftus, the Fine Gael candidate. What Dublin West desperately needs is a local TD, working hard on the ground, one who is a member of a Government party and will actually have an influence on what happens, rather than one who just complains and knocks the area in the way other politicians do. Councillor Loftus is originally from Mayo but has lived in Castleknock for more than 30 years. She is a true community activist, who campaigned for a secondary school when there was none, who served on the board of her children's primary school and who gave so much voluntary time and effort for so long. I commend her to the House and to the people of Dublin West.

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