Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Brendan Ryan for sharing some time with me.

This issue is of great concern for many of the people present. I welcome the Fianna Fáil motion but I am as puzzled as my colleague Deputy Munster over the manner in which that party rubber-stamped the budget on a Monday and then came in on a Tuesday and gave out about it. That is its own business and it will answer to the electorate for it when the time comes.

The Minister spoke earlier about the need to discuss roads outside Dublin. When it comes to the road network, however, he should also consider those rural roads in Dublin, including those in north County Dublin, where Deputy Brendan Ryan and I represent constituents. There are serious issues with regard to connectivity and safety in such areas. If the Minister goes to Naul tomorrow morning, he will see parents out on the road on a bad bend by the school trying to mind their children and ensure they can get safely to that school. It is an extremely busy road. We live in and represent the constituency with one of the youngest populations in the State. It has a rapidly growing population. People want the opportunity to live in rural areas of north County Dublin but the road network and the attitude of the Government, supported by its very best friends in Fianna Fáil, really lead them to believe the Government does not want them to live there but instead wants them to crowd into the cities, which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have come together to ensure are practically unaffordable for most people.

My constituency is only up the road from here but it might as well be Timbuktu for all the attention it receives. The projected development in Fingal is far higher than in almost all other local authority areas but the lack of tangible investment in the road network is hampering our capacity to develop and grow sustainably. Smaller communities in Fingal, such as Ballyboughal, Garritstown, Oldtown and Naul, find themselves left behind. They find that the road network is deteriorating. There is ever-increasing traffic heading for the M1, which, as the Minister knows, is like a carpark most mornings and causing motorists extreme difficulty. We want to live in a county, County Dublin, that is sustainable and well served and where families can grow and thrive. To achieve this, we need a serious plan for transport, the road network and infrastructure. I urge the Minister to take seriously the transport needs of north County Dublin because we have a rapidly expanding population. This is good and Fingal is a fantastic place to live but people cannot move around unless there is investment in the road network.

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