Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Much of what the Minister of State read out to me in that reply was simply untrue. Dundrum House Hotel - the famous Crowe family for generations has had that hotel - is the only hotel not only in Dundrum village, but in the whole west Tipperary community. That turns the Department policy on its head.

We have the wonderful Cahir House Hotel in Cahir operated by Robert Scannell and David Walsh, its two co-owners. They provide a great service. They have often told me they could make a lot more of money out of this. The fact is the Government is paying too much per night per person for this. It is so lucrative that unsavoury individuals are exploiting it and exploiting people who go to that accommodation.

The Minister of State mentioned transport. People cannot get TFI transport in Kilcoran and Ballylooby, but the Government is prepared to put on a public transport service for the IPAS people. That is discrimination against Irish people of south Tipperary. Why is there such an attack on Tipperary? We played a huge part in the War of Independence, with the first shots fired. Here we are now, with a vein of our hotels right through the middle of the county being taken up and the Department's subterfuge.

The biggest farce of all is we are now 120 days after the Government formed and we still do not have a Minister in charge of it. The Minister for equality does not want anything to do with it. She is not even here this morning. It is in her lap at the moment but it is meant to be transposed to the Department of Justice. I welcome Jim O’Callaghan and his comments and his actions so far, and the fact that up to 81% of IPAS applications this year are being refused. It is like we were blindfolded before this and our Border was like a sieve. There is messing around, though. I was delighted we moved away from Roderic O'Gorman's Department, but now it is in no man’s land and unsavoury individuals are exploiting the situation.

Eibhlin Byrne and her team are doing their best to engage with us, but engagement after the fact is not acceptable in a democratic society. There must be engagement. Politicians, including local councillors and ourselves, must be consulted. How are we going to explain to the people if we do not know and this kind of subterfuge and deceit is going on? Shady deals have been done with people who are unsavoury characters in both hotels I am talking about, and that is putting it mildly.

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