Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I agree fully with the points made by Senator Brian Hayes, and I want to raise a related issue. IBEC, with which I do not normally agree, produced an excellent report recently about the lack of investment in industry in the west and mid-west. I ask the Leader to make time available to discuss that report.

I have raised in this House many times before the importance of the rail link between Sligo and Limerick, via Galway, and the need for a rail head at Shannon. These matters are crucially important to the communications of the area. Regional development is only a joke if we simply discuss it in this House, if the investment is not made where it should be made and if the west and mid-west do not have priority. I raise such issues because if they do not fit neatly into anyone's constituency, they tend not to be raised.

There is a broader issue here at which I ask people from all sides of the House to look. It affects everyone's constituency to some extent, and also affects all rural community development. This crucial matter relates to the document on rural housing to be published today by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. We have previously expressed our views on this matter in the House. An excellent document was circulated to Members of both Houses over the past week. It came from the rural housing group in Clare and pointed out that there seems to be a conflicting stance by the architects' groups in Ireland who on the one hand object to one-off housing and, on the other, are advertising their services in order to encourage it. I would like to know where we stand and where they stand on this matter. This House should discuss these matters together. The denuding of the countryside and the lack of investment in those areas are connected.