Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a need to know what our global footprint is.

Finally, I will go back to the northern distributor road. What is happening at the moment, the opening up in Moyross, is hugely significant. I have always worked on that. I do not see various means of transport as mutually exclusive. The Minister made reference to the Dublin-Limerick motorway. I would like to see buses coming from Dublin to Shannon. We are such a small country that we should be looking at that model. If buses are going from the Hurlers pub in my neighbourhood, Castletroy, directly to Dublin Airport, there is no reason the reverse should not happen Once again I make that point. As for the issue of the northern distributor road itself, eventually the tunnel will come back into public ownership. I am not certain of the date; the Minister's officials will probably know. It has been there quite a number of years. I am just saying that the dynamics shift. As for the rail transport system in Limerick, the Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area transport strategy, LSMATS, when it was published initially did not have that in it. I am very supportive of it. It is a great addition. I do not see this as either-or; I think they are all complementary.

I will go back to something I have brought up previously. The NDP is going through this. The Minister knows I am great proponent of the M20. Outside of climate change or anything else, it is vital for balanced regional development. I had to drive to Donegal at the weekend. I was able to get from Limerick to Sligo with the click of a finger but when I went beyond there it took me hours. There is a motorway from Galway to Tuam and it is great. Equally, I can go from my door in Castletroy to the Red Cow roundabout in Dublin, in under two hours, yet it could take me much longer to get to Cork. The M20 is currently in the design and planning phase. Does the M20 continue with that momentum under the revised NDP that will be published next week?