Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the point made by the Deputy, however, and it is our ambition to achieve that. Over the next four years, we will have the biggest budget for roads ever given to any Minister and the west will get its fair share. It should be acknowledged, however, that the Government has been progressing fast and ahead of target with many roads.

For me, this budget is not for 2018 but for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. What it portrays and paints is a vision of what Ireland will look like four years from now. I welcome it on that basis but also as a member of the Independent Alliance who expects to be here in 2021 when its effects are known, as do my colleagues, Deputy Canney and the Ministers of State, Deputies Moran and Finian McGrath.

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