Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That was a very well worded speech by someone who did not have an intimate knowledge of the villages and settlements I am talking about in County Kerry and I will explain why. The Minister of State referred to €50 million. Not a single euro of that €50 million is earmarked for any one of the villages I am talking about here. Not one of them. Last night I was in many of those settlements and for anyone living in any one of them who was listening in to this debate, he or she might ask “where does that leave us?” For example, where is the money for the good people of Caherdaniel, Scartaglin, Currow or Currans? That is the question I am asking of the Minister of State. When will these people see investment in their localities? It is one thing for national policy to be hunting people, driving people and encouraging them into these locations if we do not have the services and the facilities for them. Where, pray tell, is the famous Green Party, that is, the people who want to protect the environment and who were boasting about protecting our waterways? Do they know that the biggest polluter in many cases is the local authority themselves? They are allowing, or nearly effectively encouraging, wastewater to be let flow into rivers and streams because of the lack of a proper service there to treat the wastewater in those locations. Nothing that the Minister of State said gives me encouragement or confidence for the areas I am representing around the county. Where is the money for those places? Can he be more definite or go back to the person who wrote the speech and ask him or her this question, where is the money?

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