David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “calls on the Government to” and substitute the following:“— commit to the urgent completion of the A5 Dublin-Derry road project;

— commit to the Narrow Water Bridge to link the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth with the Mourne District in County Down;

— increase funding for a Brexit-ready all-island approach to tourism;

— increase funding to Waterways Ireland for the maintenance and development of the Barrow navigation, the Erne system, the Grand Canal, the Lower Bann, the Royal Canal, the Shannon-Erne waterway and the Shannon navigation;

— promote the development of ports that are of regional significance including Sligo, Killybegs and Galway;

— encourage investment in regional airports, which while boosting the connectivity of peripheral regions would also benefit the local economy and tourism of these areas;

— work to establish strategic development zones around regional airports of critical sizes;

— prioritise road and rail connections in line with the ambitions of regional airports to realise the post-Brexit strategic potential of these airports in rural and peripheral areas;

— conduct a strategic review of rail access to Rosslare Europort to allow the port reach its full potential;

— deepen a berth at Rosslare Europort from 7 metres to 9 metres, where feasible, in accordance with the European Union habitats directive, to allow the port to realise its potential as a strategic asset supporting regional exports and tourism;

— explore the feasibility of the deepening of the Port of Waterford and exploit its commercial potential as a load-on load-off port;

— make the completion of the Limerick-Rosslare road a priority;

— develop a regional transport hub that aligns road, rail and port infrastructure, maximises use of both ports (Rosslare and Waterford), ensures completion of the Enniscorthy and New Ross bypass, and makes improvements to the N24 to greatly improve the Limerick to Waterford road corridor;

— create an independent port authority for Rosslare Europort with a mandate to develop the range and business activity at the port;

— provide funding to all regional airports for necessary development works;

— facilitate funding for the port access northern cross route in Drogheda; and

— invest in health and housing, as a healthy and sustainable social infrastructure is essential to ensure that the State is ready to deal with all post-Brexit scenarios.”

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