Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Christopher O'Sullivan and Cahill.

It is just over a week since Joe Biden was declared President-elect of the United States. The Clare Echo, a free sheet newspaper in my home county of Clare, ran a very witty headline regarding the election which trended nationally. The headline read: "West Clare hotelier loses out in US Presidential election." Truth be told, while we certainly appreciate everything the President, Donald Trump, has done for Doonbeg from a business point of view, we look forward at a political level to some of the positive changes that will happen in Irish-US relations and international relations over the coming months.

The reason I mention Donald Trump is that, for a long time, his suggestion of building a wall along the Mexican border meant it became a sort of joke back home that he wanted to build a coastal defence around the sand dunes in Doonbeg. The world and its mother ridiculed that project even though it is, in fact, absolutely essential. There were people from newspapers and radio stations in the US telephoning residents in Doonbeg asking for comments. They wrote humorous, jovial and sometimes insulting articles about the famous, or infamous, coastal defence system in Doonbeg. As I said, that defence is absolutely essential. President Trump or no President Trump, the Atlantic Ocean is eating away the sand dunes of Doonbeg. Something similar is happening just a few miles up the road in Milltown Malbay, where a shale cliff face is also being eroded by coastal waters. Regardless of who is in the Oval Office, the State has an obligation to protect its coastline from being eaten away.

Erosion is decimating farmers' livelihoods and it is encroaching closer and closer to people's homes. I ask that the Government prioritise those vital coastal defences in the coming months.

I will now raise the issue of unsewered villages, of which there are quite a few in County Clare. I recently explained this to a Dublin Deputy who is familiar with the state-of-the-art mains sewers that operate here in the capital. In many villages in County Clare, and throughout rural Ireland, there are still unsewered villages where, when one flushes a toilet, it flows out into a gravel pit or drain and ultimately ends up in the lake or stream that provides drinking water to that same population. Such villages in Clare include Broadford, Carrigaholt, Doolin, Cooraclare and O'Brien's Bridge, right down by the River Shannon which has no sewer and where flushed matter goes straight into the Shannon. Broadford has been mentioned in the Chamber quite a number of times. I ask that a mechanism be devised to fund such sewerage schemes. Right now, Clare County Council is preparing a brand new county development plan and there is every risk that lands zoned in villages such as Broadford, Doolin and Carrigaholt will be stripped of that zoning because they are unserviced, that is, they do not have mains water or sewerage. If those zonings are removed, they will have no chance of survival. It is absolutely crucial that this essential sanitary infrastructure is delivered in those villages.

The very last point I will raise relates to transport in County Clare. We rely very heavily on the Local Link service, which was provided by Clare Bus for many years. There has now been a dispute regarding a contract this company had with the National Transport Authority, which has had to go to mediation. I have tabled various parliamentary questions on the matter. It is still not fully resolved but it is progressing. Meanwhile, there is a deficiency in public transport in the county. I have long campaigned for a bus service to operate in and around Ennis town. There are certain commitments in that regard. We need to see them delivered. Money was also laid out in this Government's July stimulus package to provide for an enhanced bus service from Scariff town to Limerick city. I would very much like to see that essential rural link provided for the people of that town.

It is great to come up to Dublin and to see the DART, the Luas and every form of fancy modern public transport operating in and around the city. We do not enjoy those luxuries in Clare but we depend on the Local Link service, which must be enhanced.

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