Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I accept that, and I am delighted to be here for a couple of days. Both myself and the Cathaoirleach must return to the mid-west.

While I am not taking from the debate on Dublin, it is part of the balancing exercise. There are others with a similar belief. That is another day's debate, and I will be putting forward those issues. I was dealing with the macro-issue today in terms of priorities. We will deal with the micro-elements with regard to what requires funding at a later stage.

We are getting a fourth river crossing in Limerick, which will be hugely beneficial. The port tunnel is a fantastic piece of infrastructure; 4.5 km of motorway at a cost of €685 million. Approximately 9,000 trucks per day will be taken off the streets. That is extremely significant. I do not know if the Minister agrees with some of my views on the west of Ireland. However, as there is such a level of investment and delivery, it baffles me why there is a continuous whinge about what is not being done. If we started doing the same about the west of Ireland, we would be here for a month.