Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Brennan that we should invite John Hume to this House. Perhaps we could also invite his wife, Pat, who was the engine room behind John Hume's success down through the years. It would be appropriate to invite both of them.

Six months ago, the Leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Ahern, announced there would be a major drive to make it easier to build one-off housing in the countryside. Two weeks after the announcement, RTE's Brian Dobson travelled to Galway to interview the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, who said the system would be changed to make it easier for local people to build one-off housing in the countryside. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, made a front page announcement in one of the broadsheets over Christmas that it would be easier for local people to build one-off housing in the countryside. Six months later, there is no mechanism on how this will be done, what it is all about or when it will be implemented. It is empty rhetoric.