Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Of course they do. However, looking at the numbers relative to the current populations of the regional cities is not the right way to do it. We will have 1 million extra people in the country by 2040. The question is where those people are going to live. It is not right to say that Dublin will increase by something more than 20% and Cork by 30% or 40%. In reality, the potential for growth and the potential to close the gap in population and economic development terms between the regional cities and the capital is there, but that ambition is set by those numbers and targets. In the context of the current draft, the ambition simply is not there. As a result of that, we are not going to get the kind of State spending on infrastructure that can support the kind of growth that will lead us to a more sustainable society.