Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. The Senator's point is well made and every time it gets aired in public, it is a help. She is right that the obvious thing to do is to try to lease the car park and it is an initiative we should be taking. I will certainly support her in any practical way we can.

Senator Lombard displayed a level of parochialism, as indeed did the Cathaoirleach himself who intervened to support the Senator. However, we are all guilty of a level of parochialism and it is a healthy thing. Those who elect us expect it and it is one of the strengths of democracy. Maybe Irish democracy is based around that localism and particularism. It is shocking that the beach is not open in beautiful west Cork. Any of us who has ever had a holiday in west Cork still has a vivid memory of it. Those of us who have not had one aspire to having one.