(Carlow-Kilkenny): Táim buíoch go bhfuil an deis agam labhairt ar an ábhar seo.
George Bernard Shaw wrote to Carlow Urban District Council on 13 May 1944, offering it property he owned in Carlow. There was a legal difficulty in handing over this property to a municipal body, so an Act of Parliament was introduced by the late Deputy James Hughes to allow Carlow UDC to accept Mr. Shaw's generous offer. He had served as a councillor for six years on a London borough council and said he understood the difficulties of bequeathing property to such a body. Mr. Shaw said that if his wishes could not be fulfilled his property should go to the National Gallery. He finished his letter by saying: "but Carlow is clearly entitled to the first offer."
I ask the Minister for Finance to treat Carlow with generosity and to match the wonderful offer of the great George Bernard Shaw. It is a long time since 1944, and Carlow has not had a fair crack of the whip. Carlow is approximately 50 miles from Dublin and is on the main Dublin-Waterford rail line. As the saying goes, it is about an hour from Dublin. The Naas dual-carriageway, coupled with the Kilcullen by-pass, gives rapid access for 30 of those miles and this year plans are afoot by Kildare County Council to extend the by-pass which will mean even quicker access to Dublin. The opening of the inner relief road and the completion of the proposed new by-pass will ease the traffic problem in Carlow for those who are lucky enough to be living there.
With regard to education, Carlow can cater for everyone. We have six primary schools, four secondary schools and Carlow Institute of Technology provides diploma and degree courses. We also have the long established St. Patrick's College which runs degree courses and the research centre at Oak Park is playing a vital role in agricultural advancement. With the presence of these three prestigious facilities, I look forward to the day when Carlow will be a university town.
We may be small in size but we are tall in stature in the sporting world. Éire Óg football club is nationally known as the GAA club of the nineties. Carlow Rugby Club has advanced above the level of the normal rural town and soccer is well catered for. Our snooker centre has already held world championships while tennis, badminton and squash have top class facilities and performers. We need only think of Willie Hosey in squash. Carlow Rowing Club is internationally known and has international stars and the Barrow also provides fishing facilities second to none. Carlow golf course is regarded as the best inland course in Ireland while in the rest of Carlow there are so many other leisure facilities and activities available that I would need much more than five minutes to list them.
The people of Carlow have looked in awe at towns like Portlaoise, Tullamore, Kilkenny, Wexford and Longford, all of which are roughly the same size as Carlow, as they bask in the advantage of having Government offices transferred to them. There is a feeling that because Carlow lacks a Minister or Minister of State, now and in the past, that it is not getting its proper share of Government finance. Since I always believed that Ministers are appointed to run the country and not their constituencies, I like to think that those who are about to make decisions on decentralisation will be broad minded in their attitude and help Carlow to get its place in the sun.
The help of the Minister for Finance to provide us with an arts centre and theatre would be greatly appreciated. As I listened to CKR last evening I learned that two centres in Kildare are being rewarded for their talent and I am hoping that neighbouring Carlow will also be recognised for the outstanding contribution of Carlow Little Theatre whose members have swept the decks at all-Ireland level year after year and of the Éigse Arts Festival which this year celebrates 21 years of successful existence. The provision of financial backing for the planned arts centre in Carlow is genuinely expected since the arts have been promoted so succesfully over the years. The Dolmen Musical Society is also noted for talent and provides opportunities for those with melodious voices.
The Minister can see that Carlow is an ideal town in which civil servants could and would be delighted to live and where housing is available at much lower prices than in Dublin. It cannot be ignored any longer. Carlow has served its apprenticeship for far too long. The ball is now at the Minster's feet.
