Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Much concern has been expressed in regard to the cost of the National Roads Authority's proposed roads investment. I have never been able to obtain the precise figures on land acquisition costs associated with this. However, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, grinned from ear to ear in the House when I made the point that I had not heard a farmer complain for a long time about the price being paid for land acquisition. I would like to know to what degree the deal which the IFA did regarding land acquisition costs contributed to the huge underestimate of the cost of the roads building programme.

The country is currently being prosecuted by the European Commission for 118 different breaches of EU environmental law and is being investigated for another 85 alleged breaches. The capacity of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to make a mess of things puts him at the head of the Cabinet in this regard. Could we have him to the House to explain how a country which is critically dependent on tourism and which sells itself as a high quality tourist destination, based on the quality of our environment among other things, is in this embarrassing position? If all the prosecutions proceed to the European Court of Justice, we will end up with no tourism industry and potentially with a reputation as the dirtiest country in Europe. This needs to be resolved urgently and immediately if Ireland is to face that level of European embarrassment.