Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not do that - the Minister did. However, when people have questions about the vaccine or they have concerns because they have suffered from depression, anxiety or so on, the Government tries to push something on them and is using the media to shove it down people's throats like a police state. Ireland is a free country and people are entitled to ask questions about what is going into their bodies. I am not anti-vaccine, but I am a curious person and I would like to know and understand what I am taking and to welcome it. That is what the message needs to focus on. There is an old saying, "You will get more with honey than with vinegar." The Government should wake up, see that and not treat people as if they were uneducated. All they have are simple questions to feel good about taking the vaccine. It is okay to be scared and to ask questions. Stop penalising people for doing that.

I have been saying since the start that the pandemic has shown the lack of broadband in rural Ireland. "Rural Ireland" means what is past the Red Cow roundabout. There are 544,000 homes in the national broadband plan's intervention areas. In Limerick, 21,231 houses have no broadband.

The pandemic has shown us that we do not have transport systems. If I want to go to my local shop, which is 1.7 km from my house, I have to cycle, walk or drive. If the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, had his way, we would all be walking or cycling. If I want to go to a supermarket, the nearest one to me is 7.3 km away. The next supermarket is 19 km away. The next one is 15 km away from my house. If I want to get a bus to Dublin, someone must drive me to it because there are no parking facilities at bus stops in rural Ireland. There are students in my area who attend college in Limerick. One student's parent must drive her 7 miles to get the bus to Colbert station in Limerick city. She must then get another bus to reach college. If she has to be in college for 8 a.m., she must get up at 6 a.m. Is it the same for anyone in the cities where there is transport? It is not. The Government is shoving every cent that is collected in rural Ireland into cities' infrastructure. It is not investing in rural Ireland. Mine is a household of six people and four cars, plus the cars I have through my business as a self-employed person to go to work. I have no alternative but to use my vehicle. I pay 52 cent or 53 cent in taxes to the Government on every €1 of fuel. The Government then puts that money into the cities.

Last week, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that the Government was trying to get people into towns and villages where there was infrastructure. I have been roaring from the rooftops since joining the Dáil that Askeaton has been looking for a sewerage system for 30 years. People cannot build in Oola because its sewerage system is at capacity. The council has 25 houses to build in Kilfinane, but six of them in a housing estate have to be connected to private systems inside the houses themselves to make up the numbers because only 15 of the houses can be connected to the sewerage system. The Government is stopping many voids from being rebuilt in our areas because of conservation issues. We cannot get our young people into villages and towns. Social housing cannot be built in our areas because there is not enough infrastructure. The Government is saying that it will encourage people to go to towns and villages and that this will be great, but there is no infrastructure. I know this because I have been in construction all my life and the people phoning me day in, day out are saying that they have no services. To get a taxi from my house to the city costs €50. Where would someone go in Dublin for €50?

Look at the big picture. Who will put the food on the Minister's table when he goes home this evening? The milk, the bread, the beef or, if he is a vegan, the lettuce or whatever he is on. Rural Ireland puts it there. It is about time the Government woke up and invested in rural Ireland. Why does the Minister think there are 23 Independents from outside Dublin? It is because the Government has forgotten rural Ireland and to invest in it. It does not know how to invest in rural Ireland. Why does the Minister not ask someone who knows? I have lived and worked in rural Ireland all my life. I know rural Ireland.

I will turn to the issue of mental health.

We mentioned the pubs. They are not wet pubs; they are traditional pubs. We have no post office in my area. They closed down our creamery. We have one shop, O'Gorman's, in Granagh, and one public house, The Rock Bar, also in Granagh. That is where I live in rural Ireland. We have a hall, a national school and a church, but each one of those is 2 km to 3 km away from me. Beyond that I have to go to Adare, Newcastle West or Killmallock, which involves making a journey of 20 km. They closed every pub in Ballingarry. Those were the only outlets people in rural Ireland could go to have a social life. We are not talking about sessions but somewhere to meet their neighbours because the Government has closed everything else and it has not invested in anything else. That is what rural Ireland is about.

I am proud to have been born in rural Ireland, in Limerick, and I am proud to have worked in Limerick all my life. The Minister might start investing in Limerick.

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