Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have all been talking about what has happened in the past year or year and a half. We need to think about the confidence that we have for the future and the potential in the country post Covid to ensure that we get ourselves up and running again.

I am sure the Minister knows about this but I want to reiterate it. The European Union has downgraded the Northern and Western Region from developing region to region in transition. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has made the case that we can receive positive discrimination in getting European funding because we are now in a lesser region. Taking into account our strategy on remote working, blended working or whatever, we have the potential to develop the Northern and Western Region because it is an area in transition. We can get a bigger percentage of the structural funding from Europe because we are in a different category.

How can we best do that to ensure that we develop this region and bring it back up again while at the same time creating facilities and infrastructure to attract people to come, live, work and raise their families? I am not necessarily talking about Galway city. I am talking about the smaller towns and villages. It comes back to the point about the vacant properties that are not homes but can and should be homes if we insist. There is potential to do something positive. I ask the Minister to outline his thoughts. I believe we have a fantastic opportunity to get more funding from Europe. If we have a will there will be a way to do it.