Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Phelan for sharing time with me. I thank the Leader of the House for arranging this debate, which I have sought for a long time, on the funding allocated to the BMW region. Has the region received its fair share of funding in recent years? The Minister answered that question earlier when he said that the region has not received a fair share. It is shameful that the Government has neglected certain parts of the BMW region. I do not doubt that certain areas within the BMW region have prospered as a consequence of investment. This country has received a considerable amount of money from the EU on the back of the BMW region. It is disgraceful to think that the Government has neglected to spend a considerable proportion of that funding in recent years.

I travel through counties Mayo, Roscommon and Longford on my way to Dublin every week. I have not noticed any real change in such areas over the past seven or eight years. Although the railway line been refurbished in recent years, as the Minister said, it has cut just 20 minutes from the four-hour journey between Westport and Dublin. We await new signalling equipment to cut further time from that journey.

I would like to speak about employment in the BMW region, particularly in Castlebar and the rest of County Mayo. Some 1,000 jobs were lost at Volex in Castlebar and 350 jobs were lost at Allergan in Westport in recent years. These jobs have not been replaced and there is no sign of a replacement. It is a disgrace that IDA Ireland does not seem to have any plans for further job creation in County Mayo. Many jobs have been created throughout the country in recent years, but no jobs have been announced for the Mayo area. Will the Minister ask IDA Ireland to outline its plans for that part of the BMW region?

Knock International Airport has reached agreement with a number of air carriers and requires funding to expand. It is pressurising the Government for funding for certain developments required around the airport in this regard, but it is doing so to no avail.

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport yesterday, a submission was made on the open skies policy between the European Union and United States. One issue that arose was the need to strengthen existing services and provide further essential services around airports such as those at Knock and Shannon. If there is to be an open skies policy and further flights into Dublin, a balance must be achieved in the regions. Extra facilities will be required in the regional airports if they are to be viable and generate more traffic.

There has been no work done on the national primary route from Westport to Dublin, particularly the section from Westport to Mullingar. If anything, a backward step has been taken. The busiest part of the N5 is from Castlebar to Westport but works on this stretch have now been put on the long finger. There is no sign of progress at all regarding the national secondary route from Castlebar to Claremorris, which is a very busy road. All of these projects were prioritised in a needs study conducted some years ago.

The Government is now seeking a contribution of 20% from local authorities for waste water treatment facilities. Towns such as Castlebar are seeking funding of €50 million to provide waste water treatment plants but the Government's request for a local contribution of 20% will mean that they will have to raise €10 million to €12 million if their waste water treatment units are to be developed. This is scandalous considering that funding was obtained for such projects in the BMW region. The Government wants the ratepayers and business people in the BMW region to foot the bill although areas that are not in that region had to make a local contribution of only 4% or 5%.