Galway, the State's fastest growing city, needs urgent infra-structural investment, the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has said.
Speaking at the launch of his party's local election campaign in Galway city and county yesterday, Mr Bruton said that the western half of the country had not got its fair share of EU structural and cohesion funds.
The councillors elected on June 11th must be willing to devote their energies towards redressing this imbalance, he said. The party's blueprint for the city, published yesterday, identifies the environment, housing and transport as among the key issues in the forthcoming campaign.
Fine Gael's support for the Mutton Island sewage treatment plant demonstrated the party's commitment to the environment, and one of the biggest challenges now facing Galway city is the problem of waste disposal, the plan states. Fine Gael is committed to the development of a "coherent and imaginative" plan which will include recycling, to the greatest extent possible.
The issues of housing and transport were so intertwined and so urgent that it was now time for the Taoiseach of the day to take responsibility for both, the Fine Gael leader told journalists.
While existing ministers should retain the portfolios, the Taoiseach should oversee an integrated approach, he said, and this would form part of his policy if returned to government.
Paying tribute to the 29 candidates running for Galway County Council, Galway Corporation, Ballinasloe Urban District Council, Loughrea Town Commissioners and Tuam Town Commissioners, Mr Bruton said it was an act of "genuine patriotism" to run.
He said the decision to stand was particularly courageous, given the financial incentive offered to existing candidates to retire. This "inducement" was somewhat peculiar, given the difficulty for all parties in getting people to run, he said, and he commended those who had "resisted this blandishment".
