Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today. I have a great passion for the subject. Of all the debates in the Chamber this week - there have been some very serious ones - this is one of the most important because it will have an impact on people's lives today and in the future. The questions to be asked are stark. Will the plan shape those lives for the better or the worse? Will it give the same fair chance to everyone? The plan actually uses such language at the get-go. It refers to a sense of fair play and opportunity for all, and to social inclusion irrespective of location. When the Minister of State says the plan does not get into the nitty-gritty, and that it should not, he should note it states there should be fairness for everyone in the country, irrespective of location. Location is at the heart of the plan. Where one lives and where jobs and investment go determine whether one will have a fair crack at life. Therefore, location goes to the heart of a framework plan.

The key issue is how the objectives of the plan, set out in flowery language, will be achieved. A great deal of this, if not all, will be premised on the capital investment plan. The framework plan comes first but it is written in full knowledge of what is in the capital investment plan. It is a chicken-and-egg scenario. Consider the expected growth and how it will be dispersed in the three regions under the plan, with the greater Dublin area accounting for some 500,000 and Dublin accounting for nearly 300,000, and the rest in the commuter counties. The towns pertaining to the 200,000 will be determined by the regional plans, not the framework plan. Therefore, the detail is not set out in the plan. Where is the transparency in that? The fate of the towns will be sealed based on the Government's pet projects under the capital plan. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, can sigh all he likes but when he considers the Government promised a railway and regional hospital in my town, he will note none of these has materialised. Where is the fairness in that? Where is the opportunity under national spatial strategies and plans for the 35,000 people in Navan, or those in Drogheda or elsewhere? Where is the fairness and opportunity for those in my town or those in the town of Deputy Fergus O'Dowd? The Minister of State might tut but Deputy O'Dowd has a different position on Drogheda.

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