Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is what it has come down to. It has total control over the infrastructure now. Even while Eir is pulling out, it has ownership of the vital infrastructure we need. I cannot believe the Government of that time could not foresee this happening. The whole mechanism of "if it moves, privatise it" has failed this country. It has failed our past generations, our current generation and our future generations. I ask the Taoiseach to sit down and look at the model with regard to health and across the board, and look at the impact it is having on rural Ireland.

Will the Taoiseach examined the situation surrounding Coillte? To hear the chief executive officer of Coillte this morning saying there was a disconnect between payments and what was committed to in the contractual obligations to farmers is not on. Unless the Taoiseach wants to be remembered in rural Ireland as the trickle-down Taoiseach, I urge him to make major investment west and north-west of the Shannon. A rising tide does not lift all boats. Carers will tell the Taoiseach this, as will parents looking after children with disabilities. Small farm families suffering poverty will also say this, as will the hundreds and thousands on trolleys and waiting lists and the people who are homeless. I ask the Taoiseach not to rely on this to sort out the problems of rural Ireland.

I have many more things I would like to say but my colleagues will ably do so. I wish the Taoiseach well in the months ahead and in the confidence and supply agreement, which I believe has failed the country. There is a lot of confidence but we have yet to see the supply. We certainly have yet to see the supply in rural Ireland, and rural Government Deputies and Senators will tell the Taoiseach so. Every day, they are on the radio pretending they are in opposition when they are in government. They are there to stand up and be responsible for their own Government policies.