Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is the concerted view of a wide variety of bodies in the mid-west. I have no doubt that other cities may feel the same. I particularly reject the implication in the analysis of Edgar Morgenroth that one has to choose between investing in cities and connecting them to one another. He suggested that if we want growth in these places, the investment has to go into them and not between them.

4 o’clock

It should not be one or the other. We need the M20. The linking of Galway, Limerick and Cork by a decent road network is essential if we are not to have all roads leading to Dublin, which is currently the case. It is needed to create the Atlantic corridor to counterbalance the eastern corridor and should go on to Waterford, which it does not. At a maximum cost of €900 million, it hardly matches the €3 billion for the metro link, €2 billion for the DART expansion, over €1 billion to bring water from the mid-west to the east and many other projects such as the second runway at Dublin Airport, etc. There should be investment in public transport in Dublin but the level of investment in other cities does not compare with what has been allocated to the capital. It is not acceptable to say that we can have a road but we cannot have investment in the city. It seems that the evidence-based comprehensive submission with strong support from stakeholders in the mid west found no favour in the final document and I wonder if it was pushed aside by the last-minute scramble to keep all members of the Cabinet happy and to ease the anxiety of Fine Gael backbenchers.

My colleagues will address several other aspects of the plan. I wish to briefly refer to a couple of things the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, said, particularly in respect of the new rural development, urban development, climate change and disruptive technologies regeneration funds. It appears that these will be highly competitive and that there will have to be matching funding. The urban regeneration plan discusses matching investment from the private sector, euro for euro. I am concerned that this will be a competitive, market-led process rather than addressing the regeneration needs of our urban centres and I wish to raise that with the Minister.

I could say far more about the plans for housing but my concern in that regard is the meeting of targets, particularly as many of the targets outlined in Rebuilding Ireland have not been met. It is essential that we provide homes for our people during the course of the plan.

The plan, as a whole, is very general and woolly. However, this is only the start of the next phase of the debate because in order to have a statutorily-based plan, there must be a parliamentary process when the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016 is enacted.

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