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

We have a new Cathaoirleach Gníomhach in Deputy Keogh. We wish her well.

We now find ourselves in an unfortunate position. We hope the Government can deal effectively and efficiently with it. We are a small nation but we have a lot going for us. We need to get our act together. The first thing we have to cut out is spending on waste and ridiculous things that are not of significant importance to the people we represent here in Dáil Éireann.

We have been exposed by our over-reliance on multinational companies.

It has not gone unnoticed by me and many others that every other country in Europe has suffered economically in recent years, but Ireland seemed to stay riding high. It all comes down to 25 or 30 companies that provide great jobs and give great employment, which effectively means higher incomes. It is good for people in the areas they are providing the employment. We hope that nothing untoward happens to the workers because families depend on workers - a whole lot of families - and other spin-off industries depend on these high-level jobs where people earn massive amounts of money and that means a lot to our economy.

However, as I said at the start, we have to cut out waste. These bicycle sheds and all the stupid notions that cost massive amounts of money without people getting any real benefit from them must be gone. Many people have been advised to go electric with everything and that is fine if it makes common sense, but we should not be enticing or telling people to do this or that when it will hurt them economically. When we were told to go electric, no one told us the cost of electricity would go up like it has. It is a massive noose around everyone's neck. Since the day Bord na Móna closed Lanesborough and Shannonbridge, the cost of electricity has gone up day after day. There has not been one day when it came down. That has to be realised.

We had a former Minister - I do not like talking about lads who are gone and not here any more to talk for themselves - who came down on people who were cutting a bit of turf to keep themselves warm. How ridiculous can we get? Whatever we do on this earth, we will not change the weather. I am all about reducing emissions if it is economically viable for people and making it attractive for people to do that, but forget about changing the weather. We are not going to change the weather. No one here on this earth will. We can do simple things. People are having fierce trouble putting a roof over their heads and one of the simple things we can do in Kerry is to allow people who want to build close to their homes to get planning permission. It is working out grand for farmers' sons and daughters, but it is not working for all the other people who have land close by and want to allow their son or daughter to build a house so they can be near them. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is a clause insisted upon by the Planning Regulator, which is "urban generated pressure". These people are not coming out. Urban generated pressure is to stop people coming out from an urban set-up, but that is not what is happening. It is happening to the local people who want to build locally and to be near their parents.

Then we have such things as the Rock Road in Killarney, where there are new footpaths built wider than the road for the cars and other vehicles. There are two footpaths, one on either side, with cycle lanes. A traffic count was done of how many bicycles passed. On one day, 14 bicycles travelled on that cycleway. It cost €1.2 million and one of the bicycles travelled up and down there four times. It went up and down twice so that was four of the 14 movements in 24 hours that used the new cycle lane on the Rock Road in Killarney which cost €1.2 million.

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