Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is why we have to create a country to which they can come back. Agriculture operates on an island-wide basis and our commission on the family farm would include representatives and stake holders from all 32 counties.

Under the Government, we have seen the imbalance in regional development laid bare. It is true that the eastern seaboard, Dublin and other cities must be supported but to do this at the expense of other regions is not just unfair, it is foolhardy. Rural solutions solve national problems, particularly the congestion around Dublin. Investment in regional airports, such as enabling Knock airport to reach its full potential, is vital. No doubt we will have a flurry of promises again about Knock airport, the western rail corridor and everything else just before the election. Prior to all the elections before this, we had the same flurry of announcements.

I wish we were in a scenario where people in rural Ireland could rely on public transport, but across rural Ireland we can hardly get a bus shelter, never mind more regular routes and services. The irony of the Government's provision of the €336,000 Leinster House bike shelter is not lost on people in my constituency in Mayo and others left standing in the rain waiting on buses that often never come while we beg for bus shelters. Sinn Féin's alternative budget would invest heavily in public transport. We would progress the Navan rail line and the western rail corridor and we would accelerate the Connecting Ireland rural bus scheme. We would also invest €25 million to make public transport, including buses, more accessible for citizens with disabilities.

Our roads need urgent attention. This is a matter of public safety, not just transport. We would also scrap the Government’s fuel hikes on petrol and diesel introduced last August and we would not proceed with the increases due this month. Research by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly shows that counties Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Sligo, Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan received less than 10% of the State-wide total investment in infrastructure projects worth more than €1 million, and just 5.7% of investment from infrastructure projects worth more than €20 million. These facts speak for themselves. The Government can dress them up all it wants. This is despite the region accounting for 17.6% of Ireland’s population. Out of the 234 regions across the EU, the north west ranks 217th for infrastructure. That speaks volumes to rural Ireland. The Government cannot hide from those figures.

The housing crisis does not discriminate and people who live their lives as Gaeilge and who want to raise their families as Gaeilge cannot do so because they cannot find or build a house in the Gaeltacht regions. If our budget was being implemented today, there would be capital investment of €15 million to support Údarás na Gaeltachta and implement an Irish language capital programme. We would also increase baseline funding for Údarás na Gaeltachta and introduce a rescue package for coláistí samhraidh agus mná tí.

Last week, at an event in the University of Notre Dame, Iar Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke of de-emphasising the Irish language in relation to unionists and the potential for Irish unity. Let me say clearly in this House, under a Sinn Féin government both Irish unity and the development and expansion of the Irish language would be progressed. The Irish language is flourishing in the North, including in areas with large unionist and Protestant populations.

Our communities deserve a police service which keeps them safe, responds to crime promptly and is adequately resourced and supported. Gardaí are simply stretched too thinly to cope. They put themselves at risk on a daily basis because there are not enough of them. Under Fine Gael's watch, we have seen the worst rioting in memory on the streets of our capital. Shops and businesses were plundered and looted while their frantic owners repeatedly phoned for help to no avail. The fault lies with the Government, the so-called party of law and order which has presided over chaos and crime. Sinn Féin would fund the largest Garda recruitment drive in the history of the State. We would invest in youth and community services and €1 billion of the Apple tax would be invested in communities that have been trod on and left behind.

The Government’s job is not just to spend money, it is to get results. The hollowness of the Government seeking credit for giving people back their own money once they have wasted loads of it by its incompetence is not lost on people. People will continue to struggle under this Government and the policies that have failed them for over a decade now. The Government will continue to try to buy votes with voters own money. Do we really want a situation where we have another five years of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, whereby every child in the State under the age of 18 would know nothing other than a Fine Gael Government in charge? That is the decision before the Irish people - 18 years of Fine Gael Government with no child knowing any different and thinking this was normal. This is not normal and we must never ever make it normal.

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