Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I used that example not to make a party political point but to make a different point. Every time I discuss infrastructure in the west with the experts, they tend to be based in Dublin and to come to a longitudinal conclusion on the matter. They point out the number of people who use the railways and say that if we were to invest many millions of euro in them and divide that amount by the number of people who use them, the investment would not be viable. They never talk in terms of the demand for the service. I am aware that Senator Mansergh shares many of my views on this. We must create demand for the service. Such development of the rail service would work and we need to move forward on that.

I have spoken on a number of occasions about the negative consequences of selling Eircom. It is not so much that many subscribers lost money on their investment in shares as the opportunity lost to extend the rollout of broadband to every corner of the country. That needs to be done and the necessary resources must be invested.

I was in the Galway Gaeltacht recently and noted that three companies were engaged in interpreting the written word, the spoken word and video work. They were able to do their business from the Lár-Ghaeltacht in Connemara because they had a broadband facility to transmit information down the line. They did not need to be based in a city. Ten years ago that type of industry would have had to be based in the centre of Dublin as that would have been the only place such companies would have had the necessary back-up. Those companies are a classic example of how broadband can open up the west and the extension of such facilities is crucial to achieving that objective.

Every time the issue of the west is raised, people take a broad view but unfortunately debate usually centres on constituency matters. The west needs to be considered by people who think beyond the basis of their constituencies and who will envisage a plan for its development. We have people who are open to change and are adventurous, entrepreneurial and considerate. They can ensure the growth of the economy of the west, not merely a continuity of its protection, that will match that of any in the rest of Ireland.