David Norris (Independent)

The Minister spoke about investment in infrastructure and I applaud him for that. He is a practical man but he also has vision. We are stuck with Luas regrettably. I spoke against it because I knew it was not possible to transport sufficient numbers of people at the correct intervals of time and so on. I spoke instead for a metro system and those arguments were made here. We had the excellent support of our current Leader, who was also excellent as Minister with responsibility for transport. She was realistic on this issue, unlike her predecessors. However, we need some vision and imagination in this area. I need not cite the facts and figures as I am sure the Minister has those to hand. He will know how positive the various consultants' reports were, including the present report, on the financial benefits. There is an inarguable case here and we need someone to show some courage. The Minister is the man to do it.

I have a habit of bumping into the Minister in the corridors every few months and when I do I whisper in his ear. One issue in which I have a personal interest involves my car. It is a beautiful old car which cost me €5,000 but it costs almost as much to tax and insure it. That tax is a mistake because it discourages people from keeping these excellent vehicles on the road. They are scrapped and thrown out to pollute the environment.

Why not do what the French did and abolish car tax altogether? Imagine how popular that would be in an election.