The Kerry South TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae (Ind FF), was yesterday credited with keeping the waters of the river Shannon undivided.
The burning topic on the Order of Business was the Government's decision on regionalisation for EU funding purposes, described by Mr Joe Costello (Lab) as the biggest division of the country since Partition. ail benches did not hide their disappointment.
Mr Healy-Rae was singled out in certain Opposition quarters for looking after his county, Kerry, by fair means or foul, politically. Mr Costello demanded clarification of the Government decision. "I ask that the leader of the House invite the Taoiseach in here, and if he can't find the Taoiseach, perhaps he can find Jackie Healy-Rae, because he seems to be the real Taoiseach at the present time." Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said he understood that an element of contiguity was necessary for areas to qualify as cohesive units. He could not understand how there could be contiguity between Cos Clare and Kerry. They did not appear to touch each other. ail in the by-election. Nonetheless, they're decent people there."
Mr John Connor (FG) sought an explanation as to why Kerry had been included when it was part of the south-west region which had a gross value-added per capita level of about 97.7 per cent while the EU threshold was 75 per cent.
The Government deputy leader, Mr John Dardis (PD), said it was important to understand that if part of the country was not submitted for Objective 1 status, the entire country, having exceeded the European criteria, would become Objective 1 in transition. It was more desirable to have Objective 1 retained for as much of the country as possible.
Making a plea for the "disadvantaged Dubs", Ms Therese Ridge (FG) said: "We don't have a Jackie Healy-Rae to speak for us." She was worried that they might be further marginalised. The leader of the House, Mr Donie Cassidy, said Mr O'Toole had wondered how Kerry and Clare could border each other. "I think the river Shannon is a friendly neighbour to both counties. That probably will allay the senator's fears."