I will share time with Deputy Brennan. I welcome the debate. It is timely, particularly in light of the outcome of the various protests we have had in recent weeks. I want to put on the record that the people I met on the protests were decent individuals. They were farmers, families and children. They gave no problems in relation to the stewarding of the protest itself and they were anxious to make a point. Whatever is being said nationally about those who were on the protest, I think it has angered and insulted the ordinary decent men, women and families who I met. They were out there because of the frustration they were experiencing and because they believed that they were being neglected. They believed that their ambitions were not being fulfilled and that they were not being supported by the Government. The farmers were there complaining about the fuel costs, and rightly so. They are understandably getting their package today. However, we need to deal with other issues we hear about in rural Ireland in relation to the cost of living and the cost of home heating oil. I would hope that the Government will continue to monitor the situation and ensure that those who are marginalised and elderly, in particular, have a package of some sort to take them through to the budget and beyond. We need to focus our policies, actions and budgets on people. It needs to be people centred and we need to support communities and families. I listened to Deputy Quaide's contribution and I have to say that I cannot disagree with anything he said, or at least most of what he said, in that he highlighted the problems facing businesses in rural Ireland. They are probably the same issues and problems that face small businesses all over the place. I am referring, however, to small family businesses that have been put out of business or are struggling because of insurance costs, the general cost of doing business, and red tape and bureaucracy. I will cite one such family, Paudie and Catherine Neill from Thomastown, who had to close their business. I raised it in the Dáil previously. They are a hard-working family. Now, a big part of that street in Thomastown is vacant and left without a great existence because the mainstay is gone. Direct intervention is required in situations like that. The over-the-shop funding needs to be looked at in the context of what is happening in rural Ireland and the closures that are affecting the shop downstairs and living accommodation upstairs. People have made their contribution and paid their taxes and now they are suffering because of Government policy or misplaced policy. I would like their voices to be heard. Likewise, Inistioge is a beautiful part of County Kilkenny. People there are being deprived of their development and future because they do not have the infrastructure in terms of water and sewage treatment. They have been up and down on the list. They have been second, third and fourth and no one gives them an explanation. No one engages with them about a plan that will allow development to take place. Due to that, small businesses there, like the local pub and local shop, are under threat. They are reliant on business to come seasonally, but that is often not enough to take them through the harsh reality of business today. I want to refer to route 4, a service that was withdrawn from rural Ireland that served as a connection to Dublin and Waterford. It was to be finished in May. The misinformation that is out there has not been addressed by the transport authority. Part of that route is being put out for public consultation, but we do not know if the full route is being retained for the people who travel there for hospital appointments, college, school and social occasions. Nobody knows what is happening. I ask the Minister to please ask the authority to issue a comprehensive statement on exactly where we are going with that. Schools in Kilkenny city are often full and as a result of that, people go to Scoil Aireagail and other schools around the county. However, Bus Éireann told them today that there would be no service. That is shocking. There is no service when there is a bus link and other services there. Bus Éireann needs to look at this again. It is not good enough just to raise it here. I hope that a note will be taken on what needs to be done and that we will hear from the Minister. Tamara Whelan in Windgap attended the School of the Holy Spirit. For her future education through the National Learning Network, she needs a bus connection from Windgap. There is a bus service and transport from Tullaghought and Kilmoganny, but it needs to stop at Windgap. The bureaucracy and red tape attached to making that decision around a seven-minute trip is absolutely horrendous. If we are serious about connecting those who require further education to the centre, then we have to consider that. Kilkenny corporation and Kilkenny borough council were abolished and taken into Kilkenny County Council. It was the wrong decision, and it is still the wrong decision. If we are talking about developing urban centres and democracy, we need to bring democracy back to those centres like Kilkenny city and ensure that they have their corporation and county council and that people can engage with them at the lowest level in the pecking order, which is at community level and through their local corporation. It has been promised for years that we would review it. There was a Bill before the House today. I hope that the Government will see the error of its ways and provide that structure for democracy and for the people I represent. Will the Minister please tell the Minister for education to release the schools that deserve to be released into the construction phase?

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Thank you, Deputy.

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Deputy Lawless should conclude.

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To conclude, Deputy.

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I call Deputy Roche.

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