Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the two new Senators to the House and I hope they have many happy years here. This morning's reports from Copenhagen are not optimistic on the chances of reaching a deal. I was there a few days ago and one thing that struck me was the sheer number of ordinary citizens in attendance who were trying to make their voices heard. While we all have a role to play and while individual actions are important, we need to work together on this at a national and international level. The message we need to see coming from the conference is that a deal has been reached. It is in all our interests that some sort of accommodation is made at Copenhagen to ensure climate change is tackled and put at the top of the international agenda. We wish those taking part the best in their efforts in the next few days.

I would also like to raise the issue of the reported delay to the opening of this €300 million bypass. If reports are to be believed, the officials in the NRA are happy with this road. They think it is safe and are ready to open it. Why is it not opening? The road it bypasses is particularly dangerous and there have been many accidents on it. If it is true that representations were made to delay the opening so a few local retailers would not see a downturn in business during the run up to Christmas, then that is very bad news indeed. We cannot put the interests of a few individuals in front of the common good. We spent €300 million on this road, and if this is public policy, I dread to think what the Minister will do next. Will he close the M1 or the new terminal at Dublin Airport to prevent people from leaving the country?

This is not the way to proceed. We are all aware that there are job losses in communities across the country, but this is not how to save jobs. This Minister for Transport has an excellent record on road safety and he should be rightly proud of the lives that have been saved through his actions. I am disappointed to see this road being delayed and I impress on the Leader to make those points to the Minister. We need to see that road open next week to make it easy for people to travel up and down the country in the lead up to Christmas.