James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I will deal with the Senator's comment in a minute. Given the infrastructure problems which have a negative impact on our development, this was a major blow. The lack of a quality and reliable train service from Longford town, which I highlighted last week on the Order of Business, the traffic congestion that would be alleviated by the widening of Richmond Street, a street that Senator Leyden often uses travelling east-west, and the fact that the national development plan cannot even produce a dual carriageway from Longford to Kinnegad or complete the Longford southern bypass, which is strapped for cash under this Government, are all symbolic of the problems preventing my area and others throughout the country achieving their full potential.

It is time for the Government to wake up and listen because the evidence from the results of this year's local and European elections is that the people in power are not listening. They must listen and if they are not prepared to listen to the general public on this issue and many others, it is time for them to quit. They have lost the plot.