Seanad debates

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

2:30 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

The report published today by the review group on the sale of State assets and liabilities has been mentioned already. Regardless of whether I am a Member of the next Seanad this report needs to be discussed in great detail. I was glad to hear the Taoiseach say today that some of the proposals contained in it would be carefully considered but it must be carefully considered in a much wider debate because the implications of selling some of these State assets, which are strategic, such as Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, the ESB and Bord Gáis is akin to selling the television set to pay the ESB bills. I warn the Government against doing that and urge it to follow through on the commitments it made in the run up to the general election and proceed very carefully in this regard.

Second, I ask the Leader to arrange early in the new Seanad for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to attend the House as a matter of urgency to discuss the national development plan and strategic infrastructure projects that have been put on hold by the new Government. During the election campaign, commitments were given on metro north and a DART underground service, as well as connecting both Luas lines. All these have been put on hold. The public was promised that by the end of March the order to enable work on metro north would be signed by the new Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, but today is 20 April and it has still not been done. This has cost 260 jobs, while €80 million has been spent so far on the project. If it goes ahead, the project will initially create 6,000 jobs in construction and it has the potential to create 36,000 permanent jobs in the Dublin and north-east region. The public expects critical strategic projects, as outlined in the national development plan, to improve the quality of life for commuters and others. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport should attend the next Seanad to explain why he has not followed through on the commitments that he and his party gave prior to the general election.

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