Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Pat Spillane has been silenced by the Minister of State's party on that report. It offered some hope for rural Ireland but nothing was done about it. There was a big hullabaloo when the thing was launched but now the report sits there and there is no political will to implement it.

If the Minister of State has any consideration for rural Ireland, he has his chance to show it here when we vote on this Bill. He can support it or oppose it. He can table an amendment to try to push it down the road, which is the intention of the Government, in the hope that it will not be implemented but in so doing he will not be doing the service demanded of him by his constituents to try to have it implemented. I understand Fianna Fáil, the Independents and practically everyone in this House, to my knowledge, will support it. It is a question of whether the Government will change its position and support it. It will not be too long before the Minister of State will be walking the boreens of rural Ireland looking for votes. There are people out there who have concern for rural Ireland and want it to survive and be a vibrant, sustainable economy in which we can build houses and live in our own communities, where we grew up or went to school, without being forced into the cities and major towns. I hope they remember the Minister of State's decision when that day comes, and I am quite sure it will not be too long. I also hope the Minister of State will go to that room where the CEDRA report sits on a shelf covered in dust and dust it off and have a look at it.

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