Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may recall that last Autumn, at a meeting of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I outlined to him the absolute need in the review of the capital plan to take particular cognisance of the needs of the Border region as we face Brexit. There has been for historical reasons an underinvestment in infrastructure, particularly the road network, over the years in the central Border area. If we are to maintain employment and hopefully be able to grow employment, we need to ensure that out indigenous industries - by and large, our industry is indigenous - can remain as competitive as possible and maintain jobs.

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