John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Everybody will be well aware by now of Transport 21 which contains exciting initiatives intended to improve access throughout the country, not least in the case of the western corridor. It is a measure that Deputy Cowley, in particular, would welcome.

Access needs to be improved and that is why the plans are in place. Never in the history of the State has more funding been invested in infrastructure. Never in the history of the State has more funding been invested in access. Those plans will be put in place over the next few years and we will see substantial progress.

While all that takes place, our immediate objective is to improve the number of visitors to the regions and that is why we have made a substantial investment through our marketing programme in helping the regions, by twinning them and by ensuring that we market the super regions to best effect. All these efforts are meant to ensure that there is a greater degree of regionalism and that the spread of tourists is more proportionate.

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