Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, and his executives and I take this opportunity to wish him success in the general election. I know Deputy Parlon from his previous role as president of the IFA, where he did excellent work. I was on the board of Bord Bia at the time and met him in that time. The Deputy is a great asset to the Oireachtas and I mean that genuinely. I wish him the best of luck in the forthcoming election, which I heard may be on 17 or 18 May or the following week.

As Senator Mansergh elucidated so eloquently, Ireland's economy acts as a model for success and is the envy of countries all over the world. Our greatest achievement is that we have virtually no unemployment. We have had emigration since the time of the famine, but now people are coming here for work and Ireland is a haven for others seeking employment. The 400,000 new Irish will be our kith and kin and will intermarry here and become our blood relations in the next generation. The fact that we now provide jobs for other nationalities is for me the greatest accolade to our economy.

Roads infrastructure has been mentioned by other speakers. I travelled to Waterford yesterday and can only say the quicker we get the M9 delivered the better. We must work to have it delivered by 2010. The Green Party has argued against building motorways, but they are the safest way to travel because they have no junctions or crossroads. When people get used to the speed of the motorway, they are safer. I felt nervous initially on motorways, but they are safer. The existing road to Waterford is basically a country road so the sooner we get the motorway built, the easier it will be for communication with the rest of the country. It is a pleasure to travel across the country from east to west because the new roads are fantastic. The improvements that have been made in roads infrastructure are a great achievement. Despite what Senator Terry said, the roads network has improved tremendously.