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

No. Where Fine Gael was born was close to Clonakilty. He was born to the son of a farmer. Since it has come into government, for decades, Fine Gael has done nothing but close down farms around this country. We then go to Eamon de Valera, who was born in New York and raised in Bruree, County Limerick, and was for Fianna Fáil. Again, we look across the Governments over decades slowly taking out the people around the country. At one time, Fine Gael was seen as the farmers’ party, which it is no more, and Fianna Fáil was known as the workers’ party, which it is no more.

The Taoiseach talked to the previous speaker about building houses and building things in Ireland. The discrimination of this Government against people around Ireland is evident when we look at infrastructure. When we look at where the money is being spent on infrastructure around the country, we see that a lot of money has been spent within Dublin itself. The Government is supposed to reflect the country with regard to investment in infrastructure.

If the Taoiseach watches television during the week, he will see that the biggest polluter in this country - the Government has been roaring for years it is the farmers - is the Government itself because of lack of infrastructure. Sewerage systems that Governments have promised for 40 and 50 years have never been upgraded, which does not allow people to build in their own towns and villages. This is what I am talking about. We then look at Uisce Éireann, which is looking for €6 billion at the moment and it says it needs €120 billion to fix this. In Croom, despite €5 million or €6 million being spent on a water system, it is now bringing in trucks of water, six per day. It is costing €200,000 a month to bring water in, even though the pipe scheme is there.

We are talking about the waste of funds. We are talking about rebuilding Ireland. How can any business or person in Ireland have fairness if the Government does not give proper funding for infrastructure? It is putting the infrastructure into highly populated areas and discriminating against the rest of the counties of Ireland that want to prosper. People want to have a home in an area that is affordable for them. That is what we want. We have to share the infrastructure. I am also looking for accountability for where the funding is going. We are not getting value for money. It comes back to the Government itself to make sure the likes of Uisce Éireann are accountable for the funds they get. The problem is that they are top-heavy and we are not getting value for money, which means we build no homes. No matter what the Taoiseach says we are producing in this country, it is not for the country. It is for certain areas of the country, which discriminates against every working person in Ireland. We need to make sure they get homes in their own areas.

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