Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I would be the first to acknowledge Government supports for businesses such as those we have spoken about. I have suggested for quite some time that our local authority, Galway County Council, is chronically underfunded. As a consequence, our poor councillors have had to make that ultimate bad decision. The consequences of that have been felt because businesspeople do not want to condemn, criticise or complain. They are in the business of making money, if they can, employing staff and ensuring that they are doing things in a prudent rather than a greedy way. I honestly believe that in the case of the filling station in Headford, which saw an increase from €8,900 to €52,000, some consideration should be given to the fact that the business was forced to do things by the local authority in terms of car parking and has paid a big penalty for doing that.

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