Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

The facts are there. I am being very restrained, as was Senator Scanlon, in embracing the wonderful efforts this Government has made in the past five years. I do not want this to sound like a party political broadcast but as Senator Scanlon said, one has only to look at the towns and villages of counties Leitrim and Sligo, as well as north Roscommon, west Cavan and County Longford, also part of the tax incentive area, to see the transformation not only in people's lives and in infrastructure but in terms of the growing affluence. There is also the psychological impact with regard to CLÁR. That has been the greatest single improvement as it has given people an extra spring in their step. Hangdog attitudes no longer exist in County Leitrim and we no longer feel we are left out of the loop. The Minister of State, who travels in that area, will testify to that fact.

I am speaking of the overall expenditure in the BMW region. Let us consider the ongoing debate about the reopening of a railway line from Sligo to Limerick. There is a growing lobby to reopen a portion of the line from Tuam to Galway. Surely a start could be made on that, particularly when one sees in today's newspapers the amount of coverage given to a transportation study which urges the reopening of the portion of the railway line from Clonsilla to Dunboyne. With all due respect, is that area the centre of the universe?