Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

State-led strategic development is the only way forward for any society that wants to advance itself. Some of the initiatives taken by this State in the early years, particularly the 1930s when resources were far more scant than they are now, showed vision and we should be really embarrassed with what we are putting forward now in comparison. We developed a national airline and transatlantic flights. We picked Shannon for a focal point for regional development, rather than what it is now, namely, a US military air base with nothing. We had the electrification of the country, for which the semi-State ESB linked up with Siemens in Germany. They were so visionary that the talk was of people being fried in their beds, such was the electrical output that was envisaged.

Look where that got us. Look at that vision compared to what we have now. The reality is that Project Ireland 2040 is just a rehash and a repackaging of all the other plans and announcements we have had in the recent past. When we consider regional development and we see how Dublin is grinding to a halt because of the lack of a national plan, I do not see the solutions to the crisis in any part of this plan.

I shall give the example of metro north, the proposed route of which is located close to where I live. I have lost count but I think this is at least the sixth time in 17 years that metro north has been announced as some part of the capital or strategic plan. I remember when it was first announced. It was around the time my daughter started primary school. It was supposed to be finished by the time she started secondary school and I thought that would be great. It would be nice to be able to go into town and it would only be 22 minutes from Swords. My daughter is now in college in the Netherlands and she is never going to see that. When I have visited my daughter in the Netherlands, the trains come at 42 minutes past the hour and they depart. The next one is at 43 minutes past, or every 13 minutes. They have an absolutely integrated and powerful transport system. Metro north has been announced and announced, but nothing has been delivered. We have to make this point because Ireland's record with capital projects is so abysmal that I honestly believe that if the plan had contained an announcement regarding the world's biggest skyscraper in Athlone or a space station in Killybegs, nobody would have batted an eyelid because we are so used to these plans being announced but nothing really happening afterwards.

I remind the House that in 2005 the then Government published a ten-year plan for transport called Transport 21. I read over that again, in preparation for this debate, and I do not know if I should laugh or cry. Transport 21 said that metro north was supposed to be completed by 2012. It is now 2018 and it has not even been designed yet. That plan also proposed the joining of the Tallaght and Sandyford Luas lines in the city centre by 2008. Also in 2008, we were supposed to have a Tallaght to Citywest Luas extension, a Cork commuter rail service to Midleton, an Ennis to Athenry rail line and - I am not making this up - a rail station in St. Stephen's Green that would be to Dublin what Grand Central Station is to New York. All of these projects were to happen in 2008. Transport 21 promised us a metro west to be operational by 2012, the Luas to be extended all the way to Bray, trains that would run from Dublin to Dunboyne and Navan and an Ennis to Knock rail service. We were to have bold new DART services from the city centre to Hazelhatch in Kildare and Balbriggan on the northern line and in Maynooth. All the Dublin rail lines that I have just mentioned were announced in the National Transport Authority's Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016-2035 and yet here we have them again in this plan. The main thing that all of these projects have in common is that none of them ever happened and that ground was not broken in respect of a single one. Let us bear this in mind when we look at Project Ireland 2040. It is a piece of paper. I am not being negative but experience has taught us that a lot of what is proposed will not happen. The maps with the proposed new rail lines for Dublin are the same maps that were in Transport 21, which was introduced 13 years ago. We are told that there are capital commitments in this plan, but there were capital commitments in the last plan also.

Where are we going with a lot of this? We do not have the time to develop this further but we do have to put it into its absolute context because a lot of money has been expended, but nothing has really been delivered in many cases. It was not just the Fine Gael-Labour Government; Fianna Fáil, the Independent Alliance, the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats were all in government when those plans were introduced. In the context of metro north, nothing has been delivered.

When I consider transport in the context of Project Ireland 2040, I come to the conclusion that the Government has given up entirely on the concept of sustainable regional transport in favour of roads, roads and more roads. This is even as we head towards climate catastrophe. National roads, ring roads, motorways and bypasses; we have them all. They are all in this plan. The 13 year old Transport 21, which was drawn up before the Paris Agreement on climate change, at least contained some plans for regional railways. Project Ireland 2040 is very weak in that regard. This is incredibly wrong and it is a backward step for sustainable transport. The plan refers airily to supporting a sustainable and economically efficient agriculture sector but does not mention the fact that Food Wise 2025 and Food Harvest 2020 are both predicated on increasing agricultural output, with the attendant increase in carbon emissions. Sustainable in this context really has nothing to do with climate and everything to do with profit.

I am very concerned that Project Ireland 2040 refers, in excited terms, to data centres. It refers to such centres as being international digital infrastructure. However, it does not contain an explanation as to how we might mitigate against the humongous energy demands and emissions to which these centres will give rise. We are informed that data centres will underpin Ireland's international position as a location for information and communication technology. Let us get real: data centres are server warehouses and nothing more. It is like saying that a warehouse containing car parts on the Longmile Road will underpin Ireland's position as a location for car manufacturing. It is absolute and utter nonsense. Data centres are not part of our silicon future. They will actually place a huge drain on our natural energy resources. At full capacity, the first phase of the Athenry plant will hoover up some 30 MW of power, the same amount needed for 26,000 homes. Over time, this will rise to 240 MW. This is just the requirements of one data centre. It is absolutely frightening. I do not have time to further develop the points but this plan is heavy on spin and light on detail.

See this speech in context