Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We will have to go to visit because it was said that it was daylight when they left the house after parties. I heard the programme too. Good Irish cultural music and heritage is important.

I asked how many times the Cabinet committee on regional and rural affairs has met since the formation of the Government. I am disappointed to hear the Taoiseach say that it has met four times last year and none this year. We are four and a half months into this year and that shows scant regard for the issues. The Taoiseach relied on many of my rural colleagues during those talks to form a Government that lasted for so many days last year. We pressed hard for a Minister and we expected a minister for rural affairs. What did we get? As I said the other night, we got the hind tit. We got a Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Rural affairs was tagged on. That was a major disappointment. In every aspect, we are failing the people of rural Ireland.

I see the Minister with responsibility for broadband has arrived. I want to ask him about the state of the tender process. On regional development, the Minister, Deputy Ring, had people looking at our post offices. When their report came out, what did the Minister, Deputy Ring, do? He did the greatest Pontius Pilate impression that was ever done in any church, never mind in any parliament. He washed his hands of it and handed it over, lock, stock and barrel, to the Minister, Deputy Naughten. It was a disgrace. It was two weeks before Holy Thursday. I could not get over it. I know he is a religious man but - my God - that was a bit fast. We are also losing out terribly with the spatial strategy.

On Bord na Móna, I am glad the Minister responsible is here. He abandoned us with a shot in the dark. He turned the lights off on it last Thursday evening. I actually heard about it in the Dáil at 1 p.m. and at 2 p.m. the plant in Littleton was switched off. It was there since the late 1940s. The Minister should have been more vigorous and understanding. He should sell the peat briquettes that are there at a low cost to get some money in the company and be innovative in ways of putting in other business there. We told the Government when the carbon tax was brought in, and when it was not being brought in in Northern Ireland, that the factories would close down and jobs would be lost. There was a direct effort by this Government to close down peat plants because of its carbon tax and the way it was forced through in the last Government. The Taoiseach is reaping the rewards. Rural Ireland is quickly becoming a desert and a wasteland. I want to know what the Taoiseach is going to do about it.

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