Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I might be a Teachta Dála from what used to be Thiobraid Árann and is now Tipperary, but people from my community use Dublin Airport sometimes. We sometimes use Shannon and Cork airports to fly in and out of the country. I must say I have always been treated very fairly by all the staff, including those at the boarding gates. However, there are serious issues. Dublin Airport is thriving and we could readily take some of its business. The airport in the Minister of State's constituency of Waterford is small, but certainly some of that business could go to the regions, for example, Shannon Airport and Cork Airport. That possibility is not being considered here. It is all about expansion and trying to foist a big development - I am all for development - on a place that is already busy.

This is a typical example of an tAire, Deputy Ross, who, when he was in opposition for 30 years, could do everything. He had silver gloves and gold-plated fingers. He knew it all. He could sort out everything. He proclaimed about everything. Of course, he had the co-operation of the press. He had his own column. He could send people to the moon, keep them there if he wanted to, and bring them back again. He knew everything. However, since he went into the Department, and I wished him well when he was appointed because the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport was a wonderful portfolio to get, he has become an abject failure. He has made an unmitigated mess of everything he has touched. I say that for two reasons. The first is his lack of knowledge and disinterest and the second is that the power went to his head. It was like a drug. He listened to nobody. He would not take advice from anybody. He knew it all. He has his colleagues in the Independent Alliance. They are decent people but they will suffer at the polls because of the Minister's disastrous reign over the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and it is a disaster.

To come back to this legislation, I listened to Deputy Troy, who might as well be in coalition with Fine Gael because there is a confidence and supply agreement but it is all supply and no confidence. We now have the saga of the children's hospital and Fianna Fáil still will not vote no confidence in the Minister for Health because it is frightened of an election. It is frightened of the people. It is now facing the headlights. It will tell us it opposed the Minister's road traffic legislation all the way but in fact it put down one amendment about cyclists. The people of Ballyporeen, Hollyford and all parts of Tipperary and Waterford, the Déise, where the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, comes from, have been affected. I have nothing against cyclists but one cannot keep 1.5 m-----

See this speech in context