Niall Blaney (Donegal North East, IND-FF)

I support the Finance Bill 2006. Incentives in the budget such as the extension of maternity leave, child benefits, extra resources for the elderly and social welfare top-ups are extremely welcome. Anyone who thinks it is not a good budget is not too wise. It is an excellent budget.

I wish to bring to the Minister's attention anomalies regarding access to the north west of Ireland that have continued for quite some time and can no longer continue. I wish to mention my dismay and disgust at the recently announced Transport 21 Government policy document. With colleagues from my county, I met the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on several occasions during the past five years. We outlined that we do not get a fair share of the cake regarding infrastructure and access to the north west. We always receive the same old reply, that the Northern Ireland authorities are not in favour of co-operating on transport. However, during that period the final parts of the M1 motorway were constructed. I want to mark the cards of the Government, particularly the Minister for Finance, on this issue.

I come from a county with four out of six Government Deputies and I vote with the Government on the majority of occasions. We have no deep sea port. There is a greater volume of traffic on the N2-A5 roads between Dublin and Derry than on the Galway, Limerick and Waterford routes. However, those three routes will be upgraded to motorway status whereas the N2-A5 is completely forgotten about. If this was the Minister's constituency he would not stand for this response, and I can no longer stand for it. We did not even get a mention in the Transport 21 document.

We have had the highest unemployment level in the country for many years. It is currently running at four times the national average and we can forget about that figure getting any better with the current Government proposals.

I will inform the Minister of what is coming down the track in regard to access to the north west. The Irish Central Border Area Network has done much groundwork on infrastructure in the north west. It has consulted all relevant authorities along the Border as well as all the county and city managers on both sides of the Border with a view to seeking funding from this Government, the British Government and the relevant European bodies for two motorways — one from Derry to Dublin and another from Sligo to Larne — and a rail line to the north west. The cost of the three projects is estimated at €5 billion between now and 2017. The well known Peter Quinn of the Quinn Group is leading this lobby and the whole Border region is behind him, North and South. The argument about the Northern bodies not being consulted and not co-operating has changed. If we are serious about North-South co-operation, this is the ideal project to consolidate this idealism if it truly exists.

I have strayed a bit from the Finance Bill but this issue needs to be brought to the fore to ensure moneys are included in the budget as and from this year for the projects mentioned. Nothing less for the north west is acceptable. I very much support the Bill but I ask the Minister for Finance to seriously look at the north west to see why we are lagging behind and to bring us up to the same level as the rest of the country.

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