Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This is important infrastructure and its construction will create up to 6,000 jobs, which will mean wages churning into the economy.

In addition, I ask the Government to accept the proposal from Siemens Ireland, which I mentioned to the Leader before, to install a water meter in every house in Ireland at its own expense. This would represent a free loan of €1.1 billion to the Government, which would be repaid when water charges came into operation some time in the future, and would create another 1,000 jobs. Another proposal I would like to see included in the four-year plan is one that was raised by my colleague Senator Cannon in the House recently. We could build on the idea he mentioned. The Government should go to Ryanair and Aer Lingus, buy a million airline tickets into Ireland and make them available to hoteliers, the tourism industry and communities that want to sell Ireland abroad. Organisations could offer free transport to Ireland. With regard to the cost to the Government, Ryanair and Aer Lingus are selling tickets for €7 at the moment, so it could get a million tickets for €7 million. These would be available to people who want to sell their towns, their hotels or their industries. I ask that such proposals be included in the four-year plan.