Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I appeal to the Minister to restore the €3,800 first-time buyer's grant. Young people in the west are trying to purchase their own homes. They want pride, esteem and self-confidence and do not want to rely on hand-outs or council housing. Now they are being put under added pressure and councils will have to provide for them with depleted resources. People were relying on the first-time buyer's grant to afford their dream. I welcomed the CLÁR project which created opportunities through installing sewerage schemes, roads, footpaths, lighting and water etc. I also welcomed the establishment of the Western Development Commission.

The Minister has removed the budgets for all of these. The Government has cut the budget for the Western Development Commission by over 70% and that for the CLÁR project by over €3 million. The Minister for Finance is saying, as Cromwell did, to hell or to Connacht. This is an attack on the people of the west and the few young people left there. We have all had aspirations of a united Ireland, but my belief is that there will be a new six counties in the future – the six counties of Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon, Mayo, Leitrim and Galway which are being left out of the equation of a 32-county Ireland.