Independent TD accuses Taoiseach of not doing enough for western counties

There were sharp exchanges in the Dáil when Taoiseach Enda Kenny rejected claims by Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice that he was not doing enough for the west of Ireland.

The Roscommon-South Leitrim TD claimed Mr Kenny and the Minister for Jobs had travelled around the country making job announcements, but these had gone to other regions but not to Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, where 4,000 jobs had been lost since 2013.

However, the Taoiseach said in Galway at the end of October the numbers on the Live Register dropped by 40 per cent in seven years from 25,389 to 15,677.

Mr Fitzmaurice said a High Court judge last week described mental health services in Roscommon as being in disarray. An announcement was made two months ago that a few towns in the west would have broadband by Christmas “but that is another broken promise”.

He claimed small and medium-sized enterprises were “getting no breaks”, and he said funding for major infrastructural projects in the west had been reallocated to Foynes, Co Limerick, and to Cork.

Forgotten

Calling on Mr Kenny to get Ministers to concentrate on counties in the west, Mr Fitzmaurice reminded Mr Kenny “you might have forgotten but you are from the west”.

Mr Kenny said “that comment is beneath you as a fellow west of Ireland man”.

He said tenders for broadband services should be issued by the end of 2015 or early 2016, while Apple was investing €1 billion in the Athenry area for data storage content. And broadband would hugely improve with the fibre-optic transatlantic cable from New York state to the west coast.

“In the far-flung west €100 million is being invested in a new wood-burning power plant”, and Mr Kenny suggested the Independent TD had “not noticed the €600 million investment in the motorway from Gort to Tuam”.

Mr Fitzmaurice said: “What about Roscommon and Mayo? They are in the west as well.”