Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the involvement of the regional assemblies which have a very active role to play. We engaged with them quite a lot in the development of Project 2040, the national development plan, and the national planning framework around that to guarantee that those regions have long-term plans. I have said before in these Houses that if we are to permanently address an imbalance in regional development, it will not happen in one or two years. It will happen with sustained investment over a 20 or 30-year period but we have to have plans to match that. That is why, under Project 2040, they are 20-year plans with long-term commitments. In the budget announced this week, there is a capital spend of more than €10 million with a regional focus. We are investing the capital to match the plans and ambitions.

As a Department, we will work with all to maximise the drawdown from European co-funding initiatives. There is money set aside in our budget plans for more investment in the regions in our baseline funding and in the recovery fund we can draw on next year, with an extra €30 million available there for regional enterprises and supports. We are committed to doing this and will work with anybody who wants to help in that mission with a positive agenda. I agree with the Deputy that we should look forwards, not backwards.

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