Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I voice my support for Senator Grace O'Sullivan's expression of concern on Hinkley Point C plant. It certainly used to be the practice that successive Irish Governments would engage very actively on matters pertaining to nuclear power, nuclear energy and the location and development of nuclear reactors in the UK. I recall back in the mid-1990s, when my former colleague, the then Minister of State, Emmet Stagg, had responsibility for energy matters, that he directly represented the views of the Government at an oral hearing in Cumbria on developments in the UK. That is something we should encourage. The concerns of the Irish public should be communicated directly to the British Government on Hinkley Point C at a bilateral level and multilateral level in the context of the European Union.

May I request a debate on the recently published Project Ireland 2040? This is a pivotal set of proposals that will dictate jobs and investment and the provision of public services in the country, not just for the next 20 years but for the next 30 to 40 years. It is my firm view that the plan is not sufficiently resourced. Since the publication of the plan we have read that the dedicated resources amount to approximately €115 billion, but when one scratches beneath the surface, the dedicated resources amount to about €91 billion, nothing near the €115 billion that we have been fed by the strategic communications unit that now seems to operate hand in glove with the Fine Gael press office. In reality, if the Government decided it was not going to introduce the type of tax breaks it is talking about, we would have the additional resources we need to provide the type of schools, hospitals and other public services that we need.We would have the additional €15 billion to €25 billion that is required to ensure the Irish people get the public services they demand and are entitled to expect in a decent republic. Since Friday, we have been treated to an orgy of public relations stunts from the Fine Gael Party in the guise of the strategic communications unit. I went to the cinema on Sunday evening to watch a great Martin McDonagh film, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". When I was going home, I expected to see three billboards outside Drogheda telling me how great the national planning framework is for Drogheda.