Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be going up to the Chamber in a minute so I want to squeeze in one final point. I thank the Minister for his engagement this afternoon. Like many others here, I came into Dáil Éireann to fight for my county, which is a rural one. Indeed I care passionately about the western corridor referred to by the Chairman. I believe if our island was not rooted on deep bedrock, it would be tilting over because of how Dublin has been over-developed over the years. The population, investment and everything else have gone there. I have come up here for a few years and hope I will be here for a few terms but I am certainly here for one term to fight for Clare and the west of Ireland.

Some of the dialogue we have had over and back here concerns me. I do not think there can be any ideological block to projects that need to happen. A road is basic infrastructure that people in the west of Ireland need. If we look at the Cork to Limerick motorway, which is intrinsically important to us in Clare because it provides that continuous link, I am sure many members have passed through the village of Banogue. Twice a day, the main road linking Ireland's second and third cities must be closed off by a family waving red flags so that its herd of dairy cows can cross from one side of the farm to the other. This is a road linking Ireland's second and third cities. A dairy herd must cross that main road every day. It is insane. If we look beyond Banogue and at the two or three miles coming into it and the two or three miles as you exit it, there are little crosses along the road for people who have lost their lives. It is insane that there is no motorway linking the two cities. It needs to happen.

People have been talking about a motorway up that side of the country. They have been talking about Limerick northern distributor roads, the western rail corridor and so many projects long before this Dáil term began and this Government was formed 16 months ago or thereabouts. I really want these projects to be progressed during the Minister's term of office. Some of them will still be delayed for a few more years because the statutory phases of consultation, design and procurement are long and arduous but we all need to know that there will be life left in these projects and that ideological blocks will not put in the way because that is a concern of mine. We have heard from the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform that projects will move along through statutory phases. Not everything will be built next year or the year after but, equally, not every village can be served by rail. I buy into rail. I came up on the train yesterday and will go home on it tomorrow. I love rail. I would love to have rail in every village but it is not feasible. We need to build roads. It is what we put on them that will make them sustainable or not. I need to hear from the Minister that there is life left in these projects.