Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

No, it is the exact same in Leinster but that is our problem. How do we revive our 19th century market towns as part of rural development? That is a planning issue. How will the new Minister, Deputy Ring, manage that? It is okay in Westport, which is working because it is a tourist boom town, but there are not many Westports out there. How do the towns which are not Westports make it? I would love to see how that will be resolved between the new Ministers, Deputies Ring and Murphy. That is one of the key questions I have.

I will make one last point, if I may. We have too many "super junior" Ministers of State. Teams of 15 or so make sense. There is something in the human condition that means we work well when we are around a table of 15. Once 20 is reached, which is where we are at now, cohesion is lost. It is almost akin to a UK Cabinet. One of the problems with the UK is that it has a Cabinet with 25 or 30 people in the room. It does not work as a team. There are too many super-junior Ministers. I am sorry, it must be a very difficult decision and a hard call when some people have to lose jobs but there are too many people around the Cabinet table.

In terms of new politics there are three things we have to do: we must establish a universal health system, we must get climate right, and we have to decide how third level education will be funded. I cannot understand how the Minister for Education and Skills is not responsible for answering that key question in conjunction with the House. It gives me a certain lack of confidence that we will be able to answer that question in the remaining time that we have. They are some of the concerns. I wish all of the officeholders well. I wish the Government well. However, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I are going to be all over this rural development issue. We will work together on it because there is common cause.

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