David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----in this State will not. We need a clear vision of where we want to be in the next five years and we have to start building for that now. We need to see investment in homes, schools, hospitals, public transport, airports and ports. The Minister knows that Rosslare Europort provides real opportunities for this State in a post-Brexit world, as does the Port of Waterford, which has massive capacity that can be tapped into in many ways. I met the chief executive officer and the staff of the port a number of months ago and great progress has been made in Waterford in recent years, where activity is up. The port has the potential and capacity to double or treble activity. The Minister is aware there are challenges at Waterford Airport and they also have to be met.

We must, of course, invest but we cannot invest if both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, state we should set up a rainy day fund and not spend the money we need today to sort out all of these problems while in the same breath they talk about tax cuts and giving them to higher earners in the State. All of that has been tried, tested and failed. Those are the politics of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In reality, neither party will deliver the investment necessary. They intend to save it up, as Fianna Fáil did in the past when we had the National Pensions Reserve Fund but when the time came for the money to be spent, it was not spent in the interests of the State. It was not spent on infrastructure, on roads, potholes and the need for investment that was talked about by Teachta Murphy-----

See this speech in context