Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. Before I had this role, I used to take Leaders' Questions on an interim basis. On foot of that, I know that this is an issue the Deputy raises on a regular basis. I accept her sincerity and bona fides in respect of this matter.

I will begin by pointing to some areas we have made progress on. When we talk about population and where we want people to live, we must recognise that people have a say in this too. We have to make it easy for people to want to live, study and work in the regions. We can set targets nationally and use funding but ultimately we have to win hearts and minds and make sure young people living in Sligo believe young people can continue to live, raise a family, have a job and access a university in Sligo. We also want people from other parts of the country to want to live in Sligo. We have taken a number of steps in recent times. The Deputy and I worked together on the Atlantic Technological University. She was a big supporter of that project. The university has made a real difference because people can now pursue their PhDs in Sligo. There is now a big university in the north west that can interlock with Ulster University's Magee campus in Derry. That will be a game-changer. I accept that there is work to do, and we will talk more about the technological university. However, the technological university is an example of our commitment to regional development. Not only does such development help keep young people in the regions longer, it also helps to attract investment. When the Deputy or I talk to any company looking to invest in a certain part of Ireland, access to a university in a region is a big consideration. The north west did not have one, but it now does. That happened under this Government, which is worth stating.

On a community level, the Deputy would nearly blush if she looked at what Sligo got for community centres compared with my constituency. In Sligo, Government funding for two new community centres were announced this week, one in Ballymote and one in Kilglass. That is direct investment by the Government, as Deputy Feighan reminds me, in Sligo. That is important.

In the context of the local improvement scheme and roads, we have seen more investment. In that context, €1.1 million was announced for Sligo County Council in the past week. Those are practical examples.

I take the Deputy's point and I do not disagree when she says that we need to do more when it comes to balanced regional development because it is good for all of the country. It is also good for Dublin to have balanced regional development. We have had an over-concentration of growth in certain parts of the country.

When we look at jobs, there are encouraging signs. We have seen 90,000 jobs created in the past year, about 1,700 per week. Around 10,000 of those jobs were in the Border region, including Sligo.

How do we take this forward? We take it forward through the first revision of the national planning framework. I will work with colleagues in the House, including those across the floor, in respect of that. We will publish a draft of that revision this summer, and there will be an opportunity for the Deputy and others to make a submission on practical measures to help get to the 50-50 split we wish to see. The population has grown much more quickly than anticipated and it is now clear we will have to target significant growth in the regions. I suggest that the 55-45 split has probably been somewhat distorted by the significant and unexpected population growth since the national planning framework was last published.

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