Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My heart goes out to the Minister to a certain extent. If Deputy Humphreys does not have the budget to deal with these issues, unfortunately, all the joined-up thinking in the world is not worth a damn.

The level of capital investment in this State is one of the lowest anywhere in Europe. With regards to the €6 billion that is going on roads between 2016 and 2021, 75% of that is going on maintenance only. Roads that are needed right across the west are just not going to be built. As far as the €3.6 billion earmarked for public transport is concerned, more than half of that will go on the extension of the DART railway. For example, the residents of Navan in County Meath will not see the railway being brought from Pace out to Navan or different railways being built around the country.

I ask the Minister to think seriously about disruptive investment. We have a particular trend happening which has been facilitated by a directionless spatial plan. To fix that, the Minister needs to ensure the spatial plan comes out by the end of the year and that it has the necessary funds to build the infrastructure so the people will stay in the western seaboard and others will go and join them.

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