John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To the ordinary reader, that is a two-page spread article with quite a tabloid-like presentation.

It includes interviews with a number of persons, one of which is with the famous singer from Aslan, Mr. Christy Dignam. Christy is quoted in it. He welcomes it and states that it is very good news for Finglas, which it is, and he wishes the building work would not take nine years. Someone did not tell him that the building work will take nine years from 2027 because the Finglas Luas line is not included in the projects from 2018 to 2027. The advertisement also implies that construction work on this is beginning tomorrow.

Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev is quoted in the advertisement as well and a Finglas youth worker is also quoted. The youth worker is quoted as saying, "The link will give young people a better chance in life." What I am asking is, what young people of what generation are being thought of here? It certainly will not give the young people who live in Finglas right now a better chance in life, as the Minister will be aware, because this will be post-2027. A child born in Finglas today will not set foot on this Luas until he or she is about to enter post-primary school. In fact, well beyond post-primary school, he or she could be going to college because this is a plan for post-2027.

Did any of the three persons who feature in this article know they were contributing to an advertisement feature or that this was part of the Government's communication strategy? Was anybody paid to contribute to this article? How much did this double-page spread cost in a major national newspaper? Essentially, this is a party political advertisement in a national newspaper in what is a marginal constituency in which the sitting Fine Gael Deputy is fighting to hold on to his seat. Therefore, this is targeted political advertising that is, essentially, being paid for by the taxpayer. In the words of Christy Dignam, I can ask, "How can I protect you from this crazy [Government]", as opposed to "crazy world"?" This is something we will be coming back to repeatedly.

If the Government is trying to communicate with people in relation to developments, why is not taking out advertisements in national newspapers about the chronic traffic congestion in Dublin or explaining the dangerous overcrowding on Luas, the recent electricity breakdown that affected hundreds of businesses at peak time in Dublin or all the porkies the Taoiseach told about hospital waiting lists this week, on which he was called out by an exceptionally reputable journalist in The Sunday Business Post? I checked one or two of the newspapers that serve my area, Southside Peoplebeing one, The Echobeing another, and there were no ads for the national development plan, no ads from the Government's communications unit and no ads for Project Ireland 2040. If there were ads in The Echo, Southside Peopleor any other newspapers covering my constituency, they would show a blank page because there is nothing for the people of Dublin South-West in the national development plan. I invite people who might be watching or listening to this debate, constituents, to google the national development plan. They will see a PDF of the national development plan. If they open the PDF, they can do a word search. If they search for townlands such as Rathfarnham, Tallaght, Templeogue, Ballycullen, Whitechurch, Ballyboden, Marlay or Greenhills, they will find absolutely nothing. They will find they are sandwiched between the Luas red line and green line. This vast swathe of south and south-west County Dublin has been abandoned by Fine Gael and by the Government in the national development plan. The people who live there are particularly challenged by chronic traffic congestion. As I mentioned to the Minister the other night, they have sight of the M50 but their access to it is proving impossible.

In all the talk of housing and increased density, there is no mention in the national development plan of increasing recreational facilities, which must be a basic standard when we talk about increased housing. There is no talk of providing additional swimming pools or major parks facilities to service the increased density of housing envisaged.

There are a few mentions of Tallaght in the national development plan, such as the renal unit and the intensive care unit in Tallaght hospital, but these projects were initiated by Tallaght hospital itself. The HSE delayed, and continues to delay, the launch and tender of these projects, and now we find them wrapped up in the national development plan. The Dublin technological university is relaunched in the national development plan. It should not be part of the plan.

I am quite convinced BusConnects, parts of which I think are only at pre-consultation stage, will not come online for another three or four years as far as its impact on people in my constituency is concerned, but this is all wrapped up and repackaged in the national development plan. Meanwhile, the Minister's constituency, which already has the Luas green line, will get a metro, and still we have this large gap from Dundrum all along the corridor and right out to Tallaght and everywhere in between. There is no talk of a spur line. This does not even have to be a line on track; once it is a segregated, dedicated, exclusive corridor for public transport, I think people would accept it as a mid-term measure. However, there is absolutely no such measure in the development plan. As I mentioned the other night, there are no measures for the here and now. I absolutely accept the need for a national development plan and a national planning framework. However, what the Government lacks are proposals to deal with what happens between now and when all this infrastructure is built out, which in some cases will take between ten and 20 years. In the meantime, traffic coming into the city builds up on all the arteries leading into it. In the 1990s, if one lived in somewhere like Rathfarnham or Tallaght, one could endure the congestion because one saw the M50 physically being built every day. In the early 2000s, one could endure the congestion because one saw the Luas under construction. However, it will be a decade before anyone sees a shovel in the ground or earthworks happening in any part of Dublin on any of the projects proposed here, and even longer for some of the critical proposals.

To follow on what a previous speaker said about Dublin, as a Dubliner and a Dublin representative - I appeal to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on this as a voice at the Cabinet table - the challenge for Dublin is to compete with international cities. I think everyone pretty well accepts that. This was one of the reasons behind Fianna Fáil's proposal for a directly elected mayor, so that Dublin could go out and compete with Copenhagen, Barcelona and all the other cities to attract business and investment into Ireland. What this national development plan sets up is competition between Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway, which is the very last thing we want to do. Dublin and Dubliners have a right to insist and expect that this county and capital will continue to be allowed to fulfil its potential as a destination, a place to do business and a place to attract investment. However, what the Government has done in the national development plan is to set Dublin up in competition with other cities in the country as opposed to other cities outside the country in attracting competition.

There is no mention of big issues for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport such as air pollution along the M50 corridor and some of the other major routes such as the N81 and noise pollution issues in respect of the M50 corridor for people who reside adjacent to it. These are really significant issues that have not been addressed in the national development plan, and nor has a Government commitment to take the kind of approach to parts of my constituency and other constituencies that are ravaged by drugs and disadvantage been taken in the Government's initiatives regarding the north inner city. These are just some of my responses to the national development plan.

See this speech in context