Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

The shocking treatment of the community and people of Dundrum in County Tipperary is ongoing by the Government, as it was by the previous Government. The Tánaiste met Mrs. O'Dwyer and Andrea Crowe in Clonmel during the election and he listened to them. He also assured me here after the election, when he was appointed as Tánaiste, that a pause was being put on the use of hotels. Now we find a contract has been signed, by some faceless and nameless official, with a Spanish company with a book value of €120 while there are three serious court cases going on at the High Court on ownership and the carry on in the premises. The Government has signed a €20 million contract for 277 IPAS people to be placed in a village where there were 220 people according to the most recent census. The Government's own guidelines state it cannot change the demographics by more than 5%. This is a shocking vista and it is continuing. What happened to the pause the Tánaiste told me was on it? Why was the contract signed before the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, took charge of this situation from the Department of integration? This is shocking. One doctor has written to the Tánaiste.

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