Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our witnesses here today. I acknowledge their work done during the pandemic to keep their Department functional. As time is limited, I will jump straight in. My first question is for Mr. Spratt regarding the national development plan, which is being revamped and is due for publication in July. I would like to get Mr. Spratt's thoughts on whether priority should be given to balanced regional development in the building of infrastructure, be it rail, road, regional airports, ports, or whatever. Given that the west and north west was downgraded by the European Union from a developed region to a region in transition last year, and in this case there is urgent need for positive discrimination into the future, what is Mr. Spratt's assessment on that?