Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I cautiously welcome the report, which is long overdue. I take issue with some speakers who said we are all parochial and that we all want our own town or village included. I come from County Roscommon which is bordered by counties Longford and Leitrim. While there are 23 gateways and hub towns specified, I am horrified that there is not one gateway or hub centre in Leitrim, Roscommon or Longford. That suggests that I come from a rural area and that people in north Roscommon should move to Sligo, that people in south Roscommon should move to Athlone, that people in Longford should move east and that people in Leitrim should move to Cavan, God help us.

It has been stated that there is no need to object to power lines between Carrick-on-Shannon and the north-west. I do not believe we have considered the fundamentals involved in distributing energy throughout the country. Gas is being brought ashore on the west coast, but it does not go directly to Dublin. It is piped from Mayo to Galway, on to Athlone – where a former Minister lived – down to Clara, up to Mullingar and over to Dublin, while areas in the west are being omitted.

I accept that power, particularly electrical power, is needed in the north-west, but there is a new theory that gas should, perhaps, be brought to Sligo. There are small generating stations that could generate sufficient power for towns such as Sligo. It has been proved in Europe and the US that this is efficient, but we do not seem to embrace new technology. All we want to do is erect power lines. When people object they are seen to be objecting to progress. However, these individuals have fears about many issues such as, for example, the laying of underground cables. These people did not object for the sake of objecting, they arrived at different solutions in terms of the provision of power supplies in the north-west. However, the report did not address this matter.