Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It is important these matters are discussed in that way.

We must also deal with the matter of where we stand on the council of the west. I will not abandon that issue which is another of interest to people in rural areas to which only half a day's news is dedicated. We have buried the issue of the council of the west and blocked Waterford Airport. We are urbanising the country at will. It is not a matter of taking one side against the other, we are creating a split society. The House must push the idea of a regional approach, of which the west and other provincial areas will be a part, to development policy. I am not saying people have not done so before, but this issue should be as important as any other.