Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

-----vital primary care centres will be provided. That is a long-standing and overdue commitment.

From the point of view of health service users the capital programme is critically undermined by the savage spending cuts that continue to be imposed. For example, the HSE is retreating from care of the elderly as shown by the closure of care homes in Abbeyleix, Dublin and Athlone in the past year. Much of the existing health infrastructure - hospital wards and beds in public hospitals - goes unused because of the Minister's recruitment embargo and spending cuts.

What appears to be in an investment is too little and it is undermined by other elements of Government policy.

In respect of transport, the previous speaker eloquently made the case for the construction of the A5 motorway. Some of the Minister's colleagues on the benches opposite have become deeply concerned about matters in the North, including expenditure commitments. Perhaps the Minister will inform them that whereas the commitment from up the road to fund the vital A5 project is still intact, the Government has retreated from its long-standing commitment to people in counties Derry and Donegal and the entire north-west region. I ask him to make this clear to his colleagues.

Projects such as metro north and the Navan to Dublin rail line would have significantly increased competitiveness and trade in the mid-east and north-west regions. The metro west project and extension of heavy rail to Navan and the Luas to Lucan and Bray have been deferred. The Government has missed a major opportunity to invest in job creation and, if I may say so as a Dubliner, make the capital city a better place to live, visit or do business in. Thankfully, not all public transport projects have been scrapped and the BDX Luas link-up is set to proceed. Given the substantial investment already made in the metro north project, the decision on the link-up is cold comfort to taxpayers as it will not provide anything close to the benefits of metro north. By taking these regressive steps, the Government has again shown its lack of vision and placed the country at a disadvantage.

The allocated budget for the improvement and maintenance of roads for 2012 has been reduced by €120 million on the 2011 Estimates and will continue to decrease in subsequent years. This news will not be welcomed anywhere in the State.

On education, the Government has committed to constructing 40 new schools, with an even split between primary and secondary schools, while renovations or extensions are to be carried out on 180 schools. As the Minister is aware, this investment is but a drop in the ocean when one considers the type of investment required at primary and secondary level.

Sinn Féin's pre-budget analysis and submission sets out much more ambitious targets which can be met. The Government has put on ice the Grangegorman campus development by postponing it indefinitely. I am sure the Minister is aware that the project has a long history. Launched in September 2010 under the banner "Grangegorman - Building Dublin's Future", it was supposed to provide cutting edge mental health facilities and a state-of-the-art campus for the Dublin Institute of Technology. The project also promised to deliver 4,500 construction jobs and more than 1,000 permanent jobs post-construction in retail, maintenance and so forth. Having been put on ice by the Government, will we now use the by-line "Grangegorman: Freezing Dublin's Future"?

The report is lamentable in respect of broadband as it does not give any commitment to provide Exchequer funding for next generation broadband. Instead, it states simply that the next generation broadband task force is due to report by the end of the year and aims to assist in identifying future infrastructures. This type of laissez-faire attitude to the delivery of next generation broadband is nothing short of scandalous. I am interested in hearing how the Minister will defend the Government's position on the issue.

The water network is portrayed in the report as environmental infrastructure. The report also notes that the allocation of €500 million to the Office of Public Works will include funding for flood relief. Water services, including access to clean drinking water and proper drainage and sewerage services, are not environmental infrastructures. The State is still at a stage where we require water infrastructure for reasons of human health and health and safety. The provision made for flood relief programmes is inadequate. In parts of this city the system is so antiquated that homes are regularly flooded in sewage and foul water. The Government must revisit these issues.

I hope I have made clear to the Minister in the short time available to me my party's serious disappointment with this grossly inadequate plan.

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