Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today, I am going to concentrate on my constituency of Cork South-West. It is a constituency that has seen little real Government funding for decades. Such funding can, and has been, a game changer in other constituencies. Our roads, such as the N71 and the R586, have seen only pothole and storm damage repair funding down through the years.

The only improvement to the N71 that gave thought to the future was the Skibbereen bypass opened in 2003. Some 17 years later, the promised bypass in Innishannon and the southern and northern relief roads in Bandon have been abandoned by the State as budget after budget has omitted these projects from any plans, just as they have omitted passing bays on the N71 from Bandon to Skibbereen and the R586 from Bandon to Dunmanway and Bantry. These omissions mean that the job-starved west Cork cannot encourage the creation of good jobs as a result of bad roads infrastructure that has been neglected for decades.

Speaking to those who want to develop Clonakilty, I have heard that plans to develop 600 badly needed houses are in real jeopardy due to a lack of funding being spent by Irish Water, which will result in the town facing water shortages in the not-so-distant future. The rural regeneration fund has given out millions over recent years but the only shovel-ready project the council has put forward in years, the Schull harbour development project, which would have guaranteed dozens of jobs in a rural community, has been scandalously overlooked for funding while other projects across the country which were only aspirational received millions. Businesses are being flooded in Bantry town on a nearly weekly basis. They have been pleading for funding from the Office of Public Works for decades to carry out works but have been left to fend for themselves.

The Taoiseach may tell me that these issues arose under previous governments and that change is coming, but his Government had its chance last week with the announcement of €63.5 million in greenway funding, not one brown cent of which came to west Cork to fund great greenway projects such as those proposed to run from Cork to Kinsale, from Inishannon to Bandon and along many other parts of west Cork's old railway line. Greenway cycling and walking routes could have easily been rolled out in these areas and would have been a huge boost to those areas if developed but again the Taoiseach's Government overlooked this opportunity.

The Taoiseach will say that it is easy for me to point out what is wrong in west Cork without seeking a solution. One solution I will put to the Taoiseach today is the establishment of a special task force for west Cork. If set up, such a task force would have to have a clear focus on jobs and funding for our roads and important projects in west Cork, which are overlooked year after year.

With regard to Bandon, in a recent Zoom meeting I had with the Bandon Business Association I saw that its members are full of energy and have many ideas about how to pick up their town after Covid-19, but they need state aid. They need the State to focus on the town's needs. They spoke of the need for the northern relief road and the urgent need to finish the southern relief road if the town is to make any headway. They spoke of a new focus from IDA Ireland on jobs for Bandon. There are serious questions over IDA Ireland. When did it last announce jobs for Bandon? These are all matters on which the task force should concentrate if set up. Bandon has also seen a major lack of investment in its educational needs as children are refused entry to the secondary school. I ask the Taoiseach to set up such a task force for west Cork immediately to put us on a level playing pitch with the rest of the country.

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