Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I heard the announcement of the capital plan and the amount of money involved, I was intrigued. I said to myself that perhaps the devil would be in the detail. Then I heard road jobs being announced and the announcement of the road from Tuam to Gort. I recalled that the work was nearly done, yet the project was announced again. I heard the plans for Moycullen being announced. I was out there recently and that project is very close to being done as well. I am not sure what the reason is for announcing some things several times.

Most of the budget for road construction is for maintenance. While I realise that roads need maintenance, the Government failed to take a great opportunity. In 2011 the Government decided to take the west of Ireland out of the TEN-T project. That could have resulted in funding of between 30% and 40% from the European Union, basically free, for core infrastructural projects between two countries. This is a missed opportunity.

We see where it has been landed, from Limerick to Dublin to Newry and from Cork to Dublin to Newry, and we wonder why. Most of the clout must be hitting that way.

It is welcome that funding of €450 million for nursing homes and the disabled was announced, but the sad reality is that we have asked what is being done a few times and no detail has been given. We hear every Deputy in the House talk about the need for social housing. It has been neglected down through the years. The effort that has been made this year in the counties I represent has been abysmal. We were given figures on what would be done in the last budget and were told billions would be spent. However, all we had were photo sessions with builders' hats on our heads and announcements about houses that were never built.

I spoke last week about the €9 billion the credit unions had to help the Government if social housing was required. In a time of need, the credit unions are willing to talk to the Government, but the Government does not seem to want to do so. It can borrow money elsewhere, but it must remember that every bit of interest it pays on moneys borrowed from groups such as the credit unions will be spent in our country, rather than going to a vulture fund or speculator living in another country trying to make money on the backs of the Irish people.

The children's hospital was announced for the fifth or sixth time. A spade has not yet been put into the ground. A previous Deputy referred to other hospital services being put out to Blanchardstown. I do not think anybody thought of people in the north, south, east and west of the country who travel with sick children. It would have been better to keep the hospital nearer to the M50. I travelled from the roundabout on the M50 today and the traffic was chaotic for the entire journey. A person from Cork, Limerick, Donegal, Sligo, Galway or Mayo travelling to St. James's Hospital will find the journey chaotic after travelling for two or three hours. Joined-up thinking is required. Mistakes have been made. At one stage the hospital was to be located in the middle of town and then it was supposed to be in St. James's Hospital. The children's hospital is supposed to be for all the children in the country. We need to make sure that we rethink the project.

Successive Governments have promised much and delivered little in terms of broadband. We have abysmal broadband. Everyone says the regions will be helped, but they cannot be helped if they do not have broadband. A broadband package has been announced. I attended a committee today and found out it will be next summer before we get the go-ahead from our masters in Europe to start the project. Rural parts of Ireland need infrastructure, including roads, which is why I have referred to the likes of the TEN-T project. If we want to make sure that we boost tourism in, for the sake of argument, the west of Ireland, and bring in manufacturing jobs, we will need core infrastructural projects. That means broadband and roads.

The IDA needs to get its act together and make sure that every announcement does not revolve around the financial centre or similar areas. While we welcome jobs in any part of the country, we need them in other parts of Ireland.

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