Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this plan. We can all bore holes in it and say it is not to our liking, but I will be fair about it. Where credit is due I will give it, and where I see holes in it or where I am disappointed I will point that out as well. However, I hope at all times to be constructive in my contribution to the House.

It is good to have a plan such as this laid out, to have some idea of where we are going in the future and to deal with many of the problems we have. While we can talk about the fanfare and the launch of the plan and so on, which is fair enough, how much of it we can achieve in the long term is what I, and every Member of the House, should be interested in. I do not disagree with anyone from whatever constituency being parochial. We must have a national plan. However, we must also recognise that we must try to bring with us those areas that have been left behind. I acknowledge that in some urban areas there have been appalling difficulties, appalling poverty and bad housing as well as the difficulties we have in many parts of rural Ireland.

This brings me to my own constituency. I welcome the fact that the N5, a national primary route, will now be included for development. It should happen over the next few years. This is the vital route from Longford to Westport, on which there is a huge amount of traffic, and which involves significant business from Roscommon and County Mayo, with many employers exporting material constantly complaining about the bad state of the roads. As a Deputy for the region, and with other Deputies and Oireachtas Members, I have met the chambers of commerce in Galway and Mayo on numerous occasions. Some of these companies' headquarters are in America and they have smaller units in Ireland, and they constantly complain about the state of the roads.

The proposed works regarding the N5 are good. Regarding the N4, which also goes through County Roscommon, I very much welcome the fact that the motorway will come from Mullingar to Roosky, but then we will have a long stretch of road, a big area, again going right through Roscommon and down to Sligo that will not be developed. Again, this should be somewhere in the plan. Admittedly, the Government has to bring it so much of the way and look at the funds it has available to do this, but we should have a longer-term plan to commit ourselves in total to bring that motorway to Sligo and eventually to Donegal.

When we think of transport issues we must think of counties such as Sligo and Donegal. All of us throughout the country accept that our regional and county roads need a lot more money. As my party's spokesman on the OPW and flood relief, I see every week the amount of damage now being done because of weather. I acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has spoken very strongly about climate change here and is very committed to his role in that regard. How much of his plans he can achieve I do not know, to be realistic. There is a financial commitment to it because we will have to spend significant amounts of money on our infrastructure because of our changing weather patterns. It is quite obvious that the weather patterns are changing dramatically and having a serious effect on this nation, and we will have to spend more and more resources as a result.

The are other benefits for my constituency. The focus on Athlone is good for County Roscommon as long as we keep our county boundaries. I believe the focus on Athlone will have a ripple effect on a part of our county but not all of it. The south and the middle of the county will do very well but I am still concerned about the north of our county because that area desperately needs development.

I believe the Acting Chairman wants me to adjourn the debate. I hereby do so.

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