Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, URDF funding will be substantial, at more than €300 million, for the docklands in Cork, which encompasses the south docks as well as the northern side. It will create employment overall in the region, which will be of great significance for the infrastructural works that will facilitate both residential and commercial developments in the Cork docklands of benefit to many people living in the northside of Cork.

The Irish Rail investment of €185 million in commuter rail, particularly in regard to the revamp of Kent Station and the Cobh line, from Glounthaune to Monard, will have significant impacts throughout the northside of Cork and the hinterland around the northside of Cork city and county. It will be a significant investment because it will leverage and incentivise further urban development along the rail track. The idea is that in order to get sustainable communities, there needs to be investment in a combination of public transport and housing. It will be very interesting to see how the development pans out. We are very keen that it will lead to significant economic development on the northside of Cork, and I believe this rail investment will in time come to be seen as very important.

On the new elective hospital, the HSE has made submissions in that regard and land on the northside of Cork has been identified as one potential location. It is important that we modernise healthcare facilities throughout the country, and a number of elective hospitals have been identified. Some work, negotiations and considerations are still under way with the HSE in the context of Sláintecare, whose framework covers this, and the Government will eventually be involved in the decision-making. The hospital will make for a very significant development in modernising our healthcare system and will make it more efficient in terms of elective care. It will take pressure off the trauma centres and the centres for excellence and ensure we can get through our waiting lists much more quickly than is currently the case at the major trauma centres.

To respond to Deputy Kelly, there are various broader metrics and standards. We are developing a well-being framework under the aegis of my Department to identify the characteristics and that will more broadly measure not just the economic metrics but also the broader quality of life in Ireland. This will be within an OECD framework. A similar model has been developed in New Zealand and elsewhere, and we are keen to adapt such a framework to Ireland. Of course, there has always been the issue between GDP and GNI in Ireland. Equally, however, the impact of foreign direct investment, FDI, in Ireland, when it is stripped out, is not accurately assessed either. It too can be understated, in regard to the quality of work and so on being provided and the historic added value of human capital, experience and expertise that have been garnered over the years, which have a consequential impact on indigenous industry, enterprise and research.

We still have much to do. As for housing, I think it is about capacity and delivery. We built about 20,000 houses last year and lost about 5,000 because of Covid. This year, it is estimated that the figure we build could be between 18,000 and 20,000, losing a further 5,000 or 6,000 because of Covid and the lockdown-----

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