Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

We will and we are. The Deputy is right to highlight the deficits. There is an infrastructural deficit in many areas of the country. It is acute in the west and north west. If we look at the north west further north than the Deputy's constituency, I am very disappointed about the decision on the A5 this week because the Government had committed to supporting our colleagues in the North regarding the delivery of that critical piece of infrastructure. Further rail infrastructure is required in the west. The western rail corridor is referenced in the NDP. The Minister of State is a very strong advocate for that and I support him in that. We have to look at it in any of our future developments.

In our roads programme for this year, we allocated about €92 million more than in 2024. Work is required on our roads. I understand that there are competing demands so Deputies from different areas will believe that their project should be ahead of another and that a lot of vital projects need to be delivered. Thankfully, because we have full employment and we are running budget surpluses, we can invest in infrastructure because of the work our people do. This is why the NDP and the NDP review are critically important. We are looking at between €165 billion plus being invested in infrastructure across the country. Many of these larger infrastructural projects are coming out of planning, which is part of what the previous Government did. In my previous role, I increased the number of staff in An Bord Pleanála by over 50%. We are seeing the benefit of that with quicker decisions on infrastructure, energy and housing. If I look at what is being delivered for the west, it includes the N5 Westport to Turlough road, the N4 Castlebaldwin route, the N5 Ballaghadereen route, Ceannt station in Galway where significant work is taking place, Oranmore station, Donegal TEN-T and the Clontibret to the Border route so a lot is being done in the region and there will be more to do.