James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I would support a debate on the establishment of the local health forums.

We must soon debate balanced regional development. The gateway and hub towns were established but there has been no real effort to develop links between the towns. In the midlands, for instances, there are three large towns of city status — Mullingar, Athlone and Tullamore, but the link roads between them are in a dreadful state. Some of these are regional roads and it is important that we contact the National Roads Authority and the Minister for Transport to ensure that these roads are upgraded to national primary route standard.

Also, an airport is badly needed for the midlands. It is a facility for which I have been calling for a long number of years. It is a matter about which several people, including developers, have contacted me. One should be put in place within the next decade.