Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Media reports this morning are saying that €300 million in additional tax revenue will be announced this evening, which is welcome. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have travelled around the country announcing the number of jobs that will be created over the coming years. They have gone to eight regions. One region, which includes the second biggest county in Ireland, the third biggest county, which is the Taoiseach's home county, and Roscommon, have sadly, in the period between 2013 and 2015, lost 4,000 jobs. Last week in the High Court, a High Court judge said that mental health services in Roscommon were in disarray. In 2011, the Government took the TEN-T funding from the west, when it was reallocated to Foynes and Cork. Two months ago, the Minister announced on RTE "Six One News" that a few towns in the west would have broadband by Christmas, but that is another broken promise.

Last week, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government announced that rates would be dropped for utilities companies, yet SMEs will get no break. What has gone wrong? Will the Taoiseach set up a task force or get his Ministers to concentrate on the counties in the west that are in difficulty at the moment? The Taoiseach might have forgotten, but he is from the west.

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