Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Investment is obviously one of the other mitigating factors involved. I had a look at the figures released yesterday by the Construction Federation of Ireland on the level investment in each county in the South in 2017. Cavan came last. It got no funding at all in 2017 for infrastructural projects. County Louth was second from the bottom in the funding process, and Donegal was in the bottom half. It is clear, therefore, that current infrastructure expenditure is very low in the Border region. The region is the one quadrant of the island that has really poor transport infrastructure. Anybody who tips up to Derry or Donegal will realise there is no rail connection or dual-carriageway connection. This puts the whole region at a severe disadvantage. The southern Government did promise approximately €400 million for the A5 and for access to Donegal. That has been reduced to €70 million. I understand the A5 project would proceed if the investment figure were the original €400 million.

I would also like the delegates to talk about the dropping of the Derry-Dublin Bus Éireann bus route.