Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I refer to the Gathering initiative and what Deputy Naughten said about the Cinderella areas. If ever there was an area for growth it is the area that I come from, the Leitrim-Roscommon area bordering the Shannon. All of the ingredients are there. When it comes to the Gathering initiative, the ingredients are certainly there, considering that for all of my lifetime and for my father's lifetime, the only thing we could ever do was leave the area and emigrate and move to a different part of the world. From the point of view of the Gathering initiative, there will be any amount of people coming back and from the point of view of having ingredients, they are all there. We have the longest border with the mightiest river in these two islands. I come from south Leitrim and Roscommon. Only one eighth of the amount of money spent on tourism in Galway is spent in our county. I am not saying we will ever reach the level of Galway but to aspire to reach one third of the level spent in Galway would lead to increases in revenue of €90 million and at €30,000 for every job that is created, there is the potential to create 3,000 jobs. Instead of concentrating on the areas that everyone normally visits, I am trying to get a six foot eight man to reach to seven foot, which will never happen. We must try to get the ones that have growth potential and then jobs will be created. We have the ingredients and the Minister is the baker, so bake them.

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