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

Again, the Minister of State lumped Meath in with that mid-east region. I identified in my first contribution that there are radical inequalities even within that mid-east region.

The second thing the Minister of State did was what his Government does regularly, namely, when we show a systematic problem, a Minister points to the exceptions that prove the rule. Of course there are individual cases that are against the trend to which I have referred, but the trend is still significant and needs to be addressed.

The other issue is that the Minister of State failed to address the question of Government investment in County Meath. In this regard, local authority expenditure in Meath is €537 per person. We are the only county in the State for which the figure is less than €600. In Cork, that investment is €1,217 per person. Why should a Government preside over well over double the allocation of investment in one county over another? The most frustrating thing about this trend is that it is actually getting worse. Year after year I have brought up this issue. We have a heap of Fine Gael Deputies in County Meath. Probably the only statistic we excel in is Fine Gael Deputies per capita. Perhaps that is why the problem exists in the first place. It is deeply frustrating. Those Fine Gael Deputies have told us to raise the revenue locally. To do so in respect of increases in rents, parking fees, etc., we would have to raise our revenue generation locally by approximately 180%, which would radically squeeze people in Meath.

The heart of this problem, which has not been seen, is that there has been a 78% increase in population in Meath in 20 years. We have seen the largest increase in population of any county during that period, and the central government model of funding does not take into consideration this demographic change whatsoever. As a result, Meath people contribute approximately €4,100 per capita yet get far less back per capita from the State in investment. I do not begrudge any other county its investment. I commend any county on securing investment. All we are looking to do is equalise the investment per capita throughout the State in order that the people in Meath get a fair shot of IDA investment, EI investment and State investment. If this is not done, Fine Gael will continue to stuff, hammer and shaft people in Meath. I call on the Minister of State to ensure that per capita investment change is made under this Government.

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