Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

My time has gone very quickly. I need some extra time for the number of interruptions.

We appreciate the difficulties in the country. We had to face them. We took decisions in the national interest, not that of Fianna Fáil. If we had we would have gone to the country in September 2010 and allowed Fine Gael to take on the task of introducing a budget. It is implementing a budget we introduced last year but this decision is ill-advised. The Government should desist from these closures, bearing in mind the impact they will have on communities. It is not the time for closures when no alternative jobs are being created in rural areas. We need jobs.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, to the House. I ask him to bear in mind our request in this regard. We closed some barracks but at the time those decisions were made there were no plans to close other barracks. I ask that they be retained.