Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee for his earlier constructive contribution, which is to his credit. I am somewhat saddened by the contributions from some of the Government Deputies. If it was wrong for the previous Government not to deal with the issue, is it not wrong now for the present Government not to deal with the issue? Do two wrongs make a right or is it right for the present Government to deal with the issue? We need to bring a degree of consistency to the issue. The previous Government's failure to do something is not a reason for the current Government not to do it either. I respect that there may be a working group, but it is a serious issue which disproportionately affects rural commuters and we need to address it as soon as possible.

While I recognise there is a cost to the Exchequer, we are experiencing the law of diminishing returns for the Exchequer as a result of the spiralling oil price. Everybody in the House will recognise that people are curtailing their journeys and taking cars off the road. People are being forced to curb their lifestyles. As constituency representatives, when we are not here in Dublin, every day of the week we are dealing with people who are telling us they cannot make trips to hospital or other trips for day-to-day basic family commitments as a result of the hard-pressed circumstances in which they find themselves. It behoves us all to try to deal with this issue. It is sad that when we raise an issue for debate in the House we get mocked and ridiculed because it is coming from the Fianna Fáil Party. That shows a basic disrespect for democracy because I have a mandate as does my party. Anybody elected to this House has a mandate and we are fulfilling our duty in raising issues affecting the people we represent.

Where can the money be found? The Government will have to provide an answer to that question, through the support and backup it has. While €145 million was mentioned, we could argue the figures all day long. However, the principle must be accepted by all and acted on promptly because it affects our competitiveness. Not alone is it affecting hard-pressed families going about their day-to-day duties, but it also affects the road haulage industry, the transport industry and agriculture. Today we met the association of farm contractors in Buswells Hotel. A number of them came from my constituency in County Limerick. It was one of the top issues on their agenda and it is becoming more serious for these people to try to survive and cope in business. I appreciate there is an underlying issue with the base oil price, but we need to find a mechanism to deal with the issue as otherwise the very fabric of society will come into question. We have had an increase in the cost of rural school transport, much of which was attributed to the increase in fuel prices to the service providers. It is affecting every corner of our society. We need to get ourselves together and deal with the situation in a manner that delivers a solution in a timely fashion.

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