Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

There are many agencies which have failed the west, such as the tourist board. A number of years ago the tourist board promoted golf on a broad basis. Since Padraig Harrington became the star he has grown to be in winning three majors, the tourist board seems to have stopped advertising golf in this country. Since the Ryder Cup was held here in 2006, very little advertising has been done by Bord Fáilte to attract people to golf in Ireland and to learn to play the game in our links and parkland courses where one of the greatest golfers in the world has learned to play. I cannot figure out why that is the case. Along the western seaboard we have some of the finest links courses in the world but they are not being promoted properly by our tourist board. Much more could be done.

With regard to fishing, we have the greatest lakes and rivers in the west and we are lacking in our promotion of those areas. Senator O'Toole mentioned the rail link from Limerick to Sligo, and this line should surely be extended to Sligo and up to Donegal and Derry so we can have a rail link around the country. Spain is economically similar to us and since 1992, it has had intercity fast rail linking every city in Spain. Every city is also linked by dual carriageway or motorway as well. They have made great use of the money they got from Europe but apparently we have not done the same over the same time. Perhaps it was easier for them to build a fast rail link. We do not have any fast rail line in this country and although we have upgraded our rail links, we do not have the high-speed lines seen in other countries. I do not know the reason for this but we have fallen short in many things.

From the perspective of those in the west and County Mayo in particular, we have fallen short in our transport links and infrastructure into the county and the region. That bears out exactly what the Minister said in his speech. My interpretation of it is that perhaps those regions are just as well to be left where they are.