Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have been talking about housing since I came into the Dáil and it has not got any better. It has got worse under the Government’s leadership. Instead of a clear light going forward it is more difficult. Talking about young people, especially in my own constituency, rural planning is savage. It is a horrible issue for a lot of young people. The disappointment, hurt and money they have spent on not getting planning permission fills my clinics every weekend. These are people with very difficult stories who have spent a lot of money. They are honest-to-God people who have been turned down just because of the book that is there to make sure people do not get planning no matter which way they twist or turn. One man came to me after his daughter was turned down after spending €10,000. I asked him why he did not come to me before she was turned down. He told me that he thought after spending €10,000 of honest money and giving honest reports as was asked the girl would get planning but she did not. That shows how bad things are in my constituency of Cork South-West.

The situation is a crisis but the Government has not looked at it and it has done nothing about infrastructure in this country. We saw that this weekend in Bantry with the flooding of homes and businesses. No money was spent on the flood scheme. Go back four years and two months ago. I stood in the very same spot as I did last Sunday when the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy O’Donnell, came down. He promised the earth, moon and stars again as did the former Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, four years and two months ago. It was the same as the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, promised four years and two months ago. They lied to and misled the people of Bantry. Good God, there was like an army of Fine Gael around the politicians the last day. I will not call them what they call it - a "dirty word"-show of Fine Gael people going around. I will always welcome the Minister of State here or anybody else to west Cork as a Minister but we want delivery. I wanted a date from the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, for when exactly the first bucket would be dropped into the ground for the Bantry flood scheme and when the last bucket would come off the ground but he could not give me that answer. The then Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan, came down and made a promise four years and two months ago and the then Minister, Michael McGrath, did the same. They throw them a little fork of money and head off out of town. It is like John Wayne, heading into town with their guns all blazing and then heading out of town again but nothing happens. The town gets flooded once again. It is an absolute disgrace.

The farmers have been hit here too. Nobody thinks of the farmer with the end of his ground washed away and roadways washed away at their farms around Bantry. It is an absolute disaster and the Government has done nothing. It could have done something with the compensation scheme. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, said that she thought there were objections. There are no objections; it is just that we have had a sleeping Government. That is all we have had. The Government could have done a rates waiver. The rates waiver would have stood until the Government had done its job right but it would not dare do that because it would never do the job right. That is why the people of Bantry and its surrounds should reject the Government flatly when the day comes and the Government members come knocking on the door, begging them for votes and telling them all the things it has done for them. Shame on Fine Gael, the Greens and Fianna Fáil for non-delivery for the people.

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