I move:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the Government for its failure to provide co-ordination of ministerial responsibility to improve services to western counties and notes that the section of the N5 from Ballaghderreen, County Roscommon/Strokestown, County Roscommon, the main commercial artery to the west, is not included in the national development plan and noting that the National Roads Authority does not propose to develop this section of the road until 2015, hereby resolves that the Minister for the Environment and Local Government uses his powers under section 41 of the Roads Act, 1993, to direct the Authority in writing to include this section of the N5 for immediate design and development and calls on the Government to clarify its proposals to provide for natural gas expansion in the region and for the provision of broadband technology throughout the western counties and resolves that a Cabinet sub-committee chaired by a Cabinet Minister from the west be set up, with specific responsibility for the delivery of services to the western counties.
I would like to share my time with Deputies Naughten, Jim Higgins and Perry.
I thank my Fine Gael colleagues for adopting this motion and the House for accepting it for discussion this evening. It is a simple and direct
motion that requires constructive Government action. It is geared towards creating a fairer Ireland and bridging the chasm of regional equality as regards access, infrastructure, communications and energy. Potential is defined in the Government consultation paper on the national spatial strategy as "the capacity which an area possesses for development arising from its endowment of natural resources, population, labour, economic and social capital and location relative to markets". How can development be achieved in a region deprived of basic infrastructural necessities? It cannot.
I accept the thoughts behind the mission statements of many Departments and I understand the aspirations contained in them. I am appalled by the Government's lack of direction towards implementation of the mission statements, however. I am appalled by the attitude of "you do not matter over there" and truly appalled by the notion that hail fellow, well met is an acceptable answer to the electorate of the west. We need Government led action. This motion shows how it can be done.
Crusade for Survival, a report published in the Killala diocese in spring 2000, discussed sewage treatment in Belmullet. It reported that sewage was openly flowing into the bay, which is unhygenic and unacceptable for the people of the town and visitors to it. The arrival of dolphins to Belmullet Harbour last autumn attracted tourists, but the report stated that visitors were shocked by the smell of open sewage.
The ESB needs to be upgraded in the west as there have been three power cuts since Christmas. Computers and fax machines have been destroyed. Machinery in local factories has been damaged by power surges, weather conditions and power cuts. Improvement of landline and mobile telephone coverage is also needed. Landlines are out of commission on a regular basis. Many blank spots disrupt the use of mobile telephones in Erris and in parishes in most western counties.
A Cabinet sub-committee should be set up, chaired by a Cabinet Minister from a western county and comprising the Ministers for the Environment and Local Government, Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Health and Children, Education and Science, Public Enterprise and Tourism, Sport and Recreation. The sub-committee should be given authority by the Department of the Taoiseach to call each Minister of State for bi-monthly meetings to see if targets are achieved regarding the implementation of Government policy.
There have been many confusing statements in the past six weeks about the discovery of natural gas. It is incredible that Ministers on the same benches have differing views about the find. When the Minister of State, Deputy Molloy, replies to this debate, I would like him to say if a spur line from the Ballinaboy landing point of the Corrib gas terminal will go to Belmullet and if a spur will go through Ballina and on to Sligo. These facilities have been promised. At a Fianna Fáil convention in Castlebar some time ago, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Fahey, said that if gas was wanted, gas would be supplied. I would like to hear his comments on the matter now.
This motion deals specifically with the section of the N5 between Ballaghderreen and Strokestown, a distance of between 25 and 27 miles. It is not included in the national development plan and the National Roads Authority does not propose to develop it until after 2015 when most Deputies will be recipients of free travel allowances. The new sections of road between Westport and Castlebar and between Swinford and Carracastle are being designed and there is a delay in the design of the section near Ballaghderreen. There is no mention, however, of any authorisation for the improvement of the road between Ballaghderreen and Strokestown. The NRA has been given a specific remit for the design, construction and maintenance of roads. It is the ultimate bureaucratic quango of Government. A question cannot be asked about the NRA in this House as no answer will be received. If one writes to the NRA, one is lucky if the letter is acknowledged within six months. The authority is not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
I wish to demonstrate why the NRA is the ultimate governmental, political, bureaucratic quango. The Minister, Deputy Fahey, represents a western constituency. Comments have been made about the development of a section of road over which £3 billion of multinational freight is ferried every year. The road is a glorified horse track. At the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis last Saturday, the Taoiseach said that our roads will be like the best roads in Germany. Yesterday we observed the gargantuan unveiling of the biggest road project in the history of this country, which will stretch for 110 km from Kilcullen to Waterford. The road will be 100 metres wide and will cost £500 million yet the poor business people of the west have to put up with a glorified cart track between Strokestown and Ballaghderreen.
Senator Finneran arranged a meeting with the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government some time ago. The chairman of the roads action committee said on Mid West Radio on 27 September that the Taoiseach was amazed, flabbergasted and concerned as he could not understand why a section of the N5 was left out of the programme. The Taoiseach said that the problem of the N5 must be solved. What will he do? Will he ask the NRA to carry out a feasibility study? Senator Finneran, who has strong aspirations to represent the people of Roscommon in this House, said that the Government has instructed the NRA to carry out a constraint study east of Ballaghderreen immediately.
The Minister, Deputy Fahey, was asked a straight question on Mid West Radio on 28 August. He was asked if it is true that the Mini ster for the Environment and Local Government has power over the National Roads Authority. The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources replied that it is absolutely not true. He said that the NRA is an independent agency that is given a budget and allowed to decide on priorities. The role of the Government, Deputy Fahey said, is to convince the NRA of priorities, but it cannot direct the authority. I asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government last week in a parliamentary question if he has authority under section 41 of the Roads Act, 1993, to direct the NRA, if the NRA must comply with such a direction and if such a direction has ever been given. The Minister gave a clear reply to which every Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputy should listen:
The Roads Act, 1993, assigns overall responsibility to the National Roads Authority (NRA) for the planning and supervision of works for the construction and maintenance of national roads. Section 41 of the Roads Act, 1993, confers power on the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to give a direction in writing to the NRA in relation to any of the functions assigned to it. The NRA must comply with any such direction. To date, no directions have issued to the NRA under this provision.
How will we have roads similar to those in Germany if no direction is given by a Minister who has authority over this quango and another Minister with assumed powers for the west does not understand the legislation over which his colleague has authority? It is ridiculous and ludicrous that £3.5 billion worth of freight comes up every year on that road, which, as I said, is a glorified horse track, but the Government will not issue a directive under its legislative powers.
The Minister of State, Deputy Ó Cuív, said on 12 June 2001 at the launch of the CLÁR programme for the regeneration of rural Ireland:
I hope we are now at the turning of the corner. The Celtic tiger itself, without such a positive discrimination if we can call it that, will not solve the problem and Government at last has come to realise that unless there is positive discrimination for these areas, we will not solve the problem despite your efforts and despite the efforts of local politicians.
We need clarity and action from the Government. The Taoiseach finished his Ard-Fheis speech by telling the delegates to go back to their constituencies and finish the job they started. Perhaps he should have said that they cannot finish what they never started. I call on Deputies Blaney, Gildea and Healy-Rae and even Deputy Cooper-Flynn, who is no longer a member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, to support the motion tomorrow night. When they walk up the steps they will either vote for the N5 or they will not do so. If they do not vote for it, woe betide them if they stand on a public platform west of the Shannon in the next six months.