Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am familiar with the Drumshanbo development. The development of that great facility is a credit to everyone involved, including Waterways Ireland, the local community and statutory agencies.

The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and I have a particular interest in the restoration of the Ulster Canal. Some work has been done and it is essential that there is further development this year in preparing outline designs and preliminary investigatory work in order to facilitate the preparation of estimates for the restoration of a section of the canal in County Monaghan. It is a project that can be done incrementally, and each year we need to move that project on and get more work done. It has powerful potential in terms of providing more of our country with navigable waterways.

The restoration of the Ulster Canal is a long-standing commitment and goes back quite a number of years between the Northern Ireland Executive and our Government. I hope the Minister of State is able to give a commitment before the end of this year that the project will be progressed further. It has fabulous potential and is an important all-Ireland project. At a time like this, we want to send out a clear message that we are developing the economy and carrying out developments and projects on an all-Ireland basis.

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