Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

-----to cut capital spending by €700 million per year over and above what Fianna Fáil had agreed with the EU and IMF, to avoid making more difficult political decisions. In County Meath, the Slane bypass has been cut, despite the Minister of State, Deputy Shane McEntee, telling us after the election that a secret deal had been done with the Labour Party to bring it back, in the same way as he said the Ward Union would also be brought back under a secret deal with the Labour Party. He also asserted that the Slane bypass was a top five priority project for the Government. Instead, it has been cut completely from the programme. Moreover, the Navan rail line has been cut completely from the programme. As for the proposed regional hospital for the north east, the four Fine Gael Deputies, as well as the Minister, Deputy Reilly, told the Meath Chronicle about a month before the election that not only were they going to promise to deliver it, but that they already had met investors who would fund the construction of that hospital. Were they telling lies to the people? That is a simple question. Were they messing? Did they think elections were a joke? Did they think people actually expect politicians to lie because that is the way it seems to me?