John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the proofs that the national planning framework, Project Ireland 2040, is on the right track is that it has been criticised by all sides, some extreme, others moderate. Deputy Lahart, who I have great time for, and yesterday, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said it is not doing enough for Dublin but every other Fianna Fáil backbencher and Deputies Harty and Michael Collins said it is doing too much for Dublin and not enough for the regions and rural Ireland. That probably means nobody is completely happy but equally that no part of the country has benefitted unduly over the other regions and sectors. That is a task in itself. I commend the officials responsible for it, and the Ministers. It is important that we have a proper planning framework for the future. I discovered the Buchanan report, published at the end of the 1960s only recently. Much of what it contained is now contained in this plan. It referred to places such as Athlone and the need for development outside Dublin. I welcome the fact that the final copy of this plan seeks to ensure that there are significant centres of population north of that line from Galway to Dublin, which is not necessarily the case already.

Without wishing to criticise Deputy Breathnach, sitting across from me now, the constant criticism made by Fianna Fáil was that there was too much spin, or that its announcement was almost too big. Deputy Lahart went so far as to produce a copy of The Heraldto explain that it went too far. The spatial strategy was released with great fanfare. I think Martin Cullen was the Minister responsible for it. As Deputy Naughton pointed out, it was spectacular in its absolute and utter failure to deliver anything. I accept that for ten years, the economy could not support the ideals of the spatial strategy but it was produced in 2002. It was there for the best years of the Celtic tiger. I could show towns and cities including my own, Kilkenny, or neighbouring Waterford, that were listed as gateways and hubs that did not get a damn thing under the spatial strategy. It did not matter a whit. Nothing was delivered for Waterford, Kilkenny or Carlow, which was also a hub. That was partly because the economy did collapse and partly because the plan was completely undermined a few years later by a former Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, who came into this House one budget day and announced decentralisation, which was really a case of one for everyone in the audience, another plan that was not implemented.

I am glad this is a long-term plan. I am the furthest thing in this House from a socialist but the communists thought about long-term economic planning. It did not work out very well in many communist countries but at least there was a long-term objective, not just the list of what is being done in a Member's constituency or his or her part of a constituency.

This plan states there will be 1 million extra people in Ireland in the next 20 years and 750,000 of them will be accommodated, schooled and transported outside the greater Dublin area. It beggars belief that anybody could say that objective is anything other than pro-regions and rural communities. Many of the capital announcements for major headline schemes in the Dublin region have been announced before but are long overdue and are badly needed, particularly in the area of transport.

I am glad that the institutes of technology in Carlow and Waterford have been included for funding. The boards and chairpersons of those institutions are involved in detailed discussions with a view to the establishment of a university in our region. It is the biggest single game-changer for the south east that we could hope for and aspire to. Deputy Lahart criticised the spacing out of some proposals over ten years. That is the way to sustainably build an economy. It would not be sustainable to start everything contained in the capital plan tomorrow. We must learn from the lessons of recent history in our economic development. I commend the framework plan, and the officials and others who have been involved in drafting it.

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