Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, but I received the exact same answer on 29 June 2020. I am sorry, but I have learned nothing extra beyond the fact that there was a final report in 2020. I do not know the date because I have not been given a copy of the Minister's reply. Níl raibh agam é i mBéarla nó i nGaeilge. Can I get all of the reports that the Minister referred to since that date? Will he meet the Deputies from the area, which would be good manners in any event?

Of more importance than all of that is the development in the area. We have the report. There was a major delay with it. We did not get it until 2020, and then only after pressure. We are in the same position again. I appreciate the money that has gone into Ros an Mhíl. People were delighted with the money that went in over the years. It was essential money. However, no progress has been made on a commitment to build céibh dhomhainmhara. Is é sin an rud atá ag teastáil go géar, mar is eol don Aire. Tá i bhfad níos mó taithí aige maidir leis an ábhar seo ná mar atá agamsa. The Department has a great deal more experience in this area. What we need is a timeframe and a commitment for the provision of a budget. We want to see all of the reports that the Department has and no one else has seen. That is what openness and transparency are about.

This is a matter that is strategically important for balanced regional development in Connemara, which is crying out for development. We must have balanced regional development. We must make sense of the words we use. The recommendations in the cost-benefit analysis will not change. Other elements might change, for example, the engineering details, but the analysis set out clearly that the "do nothing" option is not a good one and that a "do something" option, depending on which one is chosen, is essential for the area for socio-economic reasons, which are the same imperative reasons of overriding public interest for which the harbour board is looking for the matter in Galway to progress. Why would we treat the two areas differently? That is not acceptable.

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