Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his seven years as Minister for Finance. As Senator Mansergh pointed out, he has probably served the longest term as Minister for Finance since the 1930s. I congratulate the Minister on pulling a fair few rabbits out of hats during that time. He sold Eircom and the TSB and then he raided the Central Bank. When he could find nothing else to do he introduced the decentralisation programme. He has presided over the introduction of lower tax rates of 42% and 20%, but he is shifting the tax base by introducing what other Senators have described as stealth taxes.

Many other Departments are also making use of stealth taxes. Rather than funding local authorities, for example, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is asking them to raise taxes locally. This is of concern to members of local authorities, particularly those councillors who are facing into local elections, because they must raise refuse, development, water and sewerage charges. Many of these services are being funded under public private partnerships. We will not see the real cost of this until the increased rates come into effect in a year or two. The Minister has been very shrewd by shifting the blame, so to speak, in such areas.

Everybody fought for the establishment of the BMW region, but the funding that is being drawn down is not working its way to the poorer areas. I have raised this issue a number of times with the Leader of the House and asked for a debate on how funding is distributed in the region. It has not been receiving its fair share of funding over the past number of years. I ask the Minister to take this into account.

I recently tabled a Private Members' motion for the attention of the Minister for Transport, although the Minister that dealt with the matter was the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy McDaid. The motion was concerned with the national primary route from Westport to Castlebar, which has been put on the long finger. The Minister of State pointed out that roads such as this will not be completed until the larger projects in Dublin are completed. He mentioned the M50, the Luas project, the port tunnel and the recently announced rail link to Dublin Airport. While all these projects are welcome and necessary, so are the other routes.

It is only fair that a balance is struck in regional development. We are not receiving our fair share. The Minister's decentralisation programme did not feature towns such as Castlebar, Westport and Ballina, although they are at the heart of the BMW region. I ask the Minister to consider how the Government can fund projects such as the Westport to Castlebar road. There are other roads such as this throughout the country. Why can projects in the BMW region not go ahead until the bigger projects in the Dublin region are completed? In a city that is growing as fast as Dublin, when one project is finished another will need to start. There will be an endless number of projects in the pipeline. We recently heard of a report which mentioned another outer ring road for Dublin.