Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree that the 1916 commemorations were successful. They got off to a jittery start, it is fair to say, and the Opposition made a good job of putting a light on the Government to pull up its socks.

The Minister cannot say roads are a matter for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport while at the same time stating the report is a whole-of-Government report. We are able to criticise some elements but not others.

The Minister said there is a long list of actions in the report but many are reheated or aspirational actions with no funding or anchor with regard to performance indicators. Many are fluff, to be honest. Some of the statements could be filed under different categories. The report could contain statements such as "The Minister will engage with people in an effort to see if, where possible, to look into a discussion leading to prepare a plan that would endeavour to set up a committee to commission a report to do something in the future".

In our pre-budget submission, Sinn Féin identified €1.2 billion of new money for infrastructural spend, compared to the €300 million that Fine Gael identified. We did this under exactly the same European fiscal rules structures. It is possible, if one has the ambition, determination and ideology, to get the money necessary to fix the problem. Where will the money come from?

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