Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know what the Minister is saying but it begs the question because there are areas within the county I come from that do not have proper drinking water or broadband. There are areas where a person cannot make a mobile telephone call. Other areas lack investment in the roads and people there have been waiting for investment for decades. I have in mind roads like the R312, but I have no wish to get into the specifics. The moving around of money and announcement after announcement are neither delivering investment in the way we need it delivered nor with the urgency required. People in rural Ireland need to know that every opportunity to draw down EU funding will be matched by Government funds. It is not only a matter of announcements about the future. The Government must draw down funding to provide the connectivity that we need. We are worth it. The decisions should not be population-led.