I want to stress at the outset that I shall follow the same line as that followed by the Leader of our party last night in debating this very important matter. Like him, I shall resolutely eschew any political argument.
It is impossible to understand why the Government and the Minister for Finance will not avail of the opportunity to acquire the Fota estate. Only once in a lifetime does an opportunity like this occur. I want to quote now a statement made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance last night. Unfortunately the Official Report is not available and I hope I shall quote him correctly. He said Fota was well down the list of Government priorities.
It was laudable but selfish of Cork interests to have the Fota estate preserved for its own people but it could not be considered as a national park.
That is the note I made. As one who headed a number of deputations to the Minister I want to make it clear that at no time did we place emphasis on Fota Island being used as a purely local amenity. We assured the Minister we wanted the estate used as a national park. We pointed out that visitors came to Fota from all over the world.
Last night the Parliamentary Secretary tried to define what is meant by a national park. He referred to education; the park must be of educational interest. Apparently the Parliamentary Secretary was not aware that scouts and girl guides from all over the world used the Fota estate for camping holidays during the summer months. Surely that is an educational exercise for these young people.
It would be as well at this stage to recapitulate the efforts made by the two local authorities concerned in trying to acquire this property. I am glad the Minister is present and I trust he will bear me out in what I say now. On the first deputation to the Minister asking him and the Government to acquire this property we were told that public moneys could not be spent on local amenities. Surely a demand from 250,000 people that this property be acquired as a public amenity is a demand to which the Minister should lend a sympathetic ear.
On the second deputation we were informed by the Minister that he was somewhat disappointed that we had not brought with us a plan showing how best acquisition could be shared between the Government and the two local authorities. We assured the Minister we would return with a plan, and so we did. After long discussions with various interested bodies, including the farming community in the area, An Taisce, and so on, we returned and assured the Minister we would share the financial involvement of acquiring the property and would then give the property as a gift to the nation. The Minister refused this offer. I am sure the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary have been in Cork and seen this property. It is a local amenity and surely the people of Cork are entitled to this amenity. The situation is ideal. It is no more than six miles from the city. It is served by rail. Deputy Lynch reminds me that the station is actually sited on the property.