Seanad debates

Thursday, 18 November 2021

Address to Seanad Éireann by An Taoiseach

 

10:30 am

Photo of Aisling DolanAisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach and I welcome the Taoiseach to the House. I welcome his comments on the importance of this House in the scrutiny of legislation and in having independent voices.

Based in the west, we are a region in transition. We are already at a disadvantage in the west of Ireland. We have startling levels of inequality in this country in respect of investment across a number of key areas, namely, health, education, infrastructure and transport. That means we have underinvestment in the west per head of population right now. This was detailed in a report of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly.

I welcomed the Taoiseach to my hometown of Ballinasloe last week and to St. Teresa’s Special School. I also very much welcomed the news of the new building there which will be fantastic for the 30 children and I look forward to that. We are 25 years waiting for a national school in Ballinasloe and this is a process I am working on with the Department of Education.

I would welcome a commitment on the HSE capital plan. I know that is moving forward and that we had a 50-bed unit in that plan for Portiuncula Hospital, with multi-bed wards in that hospital trying to fight infection control, as well as a rehabilitative unit which will be in Roscommon University Hospital.

Galway County Council, as has been mentioned by Senator Kyne, is the second lowest funded council in the country. The report referred to said that we need positive discrimination in the west to balance the levels of investment. How is it fair that any family in the west is somehow living with these levels of disadvantage when compared with any other region in the country? I appeal to the Taoiseach that something has to be done.

As education spokesperson for Fine Gael in the House, I am also passionate about education, with the wealth of talent in our country and our knowledge of arts, literature and poetry, as well as history, to guide us in the future. We have to increase investment in research to be a global innovation leader. We know that the European average is roughly about 2.19% and Ireland lags behind in that regard. That is something that we need to focus on in order to become a global innovation leader and to keep investment in our country.

I welcome all that the Taoiseach has mentioned on the shared island initiative. Everything that has been done on the cross-Border canal and research programmes are very welcome. I also acknowledge the work of my colleague, Senator Currie, in this area and I also acknowledge the recent loss of her father, Austin Currie. Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Teach.

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