Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government has launched the most ambitious capital investment programme in the history of the State. It committed €165 billion of investment over the next ten years. This is a plan to deliver a sustainable development plan for the country. It is not just for the big cities; it is for rural Ireland as well. This plan is sustainable and focuses on the challenges of climate change as a priority, perhaps for the first time. This plan is consistent with the national planning framework that others in this House, particularly Deputy Kelly when he was in government, were involved in designing and the Government remains loyal to that. This plan provides funding certainty and policy certainty for the decade ahead, which is exactly what a national development plan is about.

Individual projects are named, of course. The city the Deputy and I both come from has been prioritised in this plan as one of the places where we can create a counterbalance to Dublin. As the Deputy is aware, the plan in Project Ireland 2040 is to facilitate 50% population growth in all the cities outside of Dublin to create proper urban centres of scale to create real counterbalance to an overcrowded capital city here in Dublin, while also investing heavily to deal with public transport deficits in and around the capital.

The plan announced yesterday is a continuation of the previous national development plan. It is committed to projects such as the project referred to by the Deputy. The Deputy has heard me speaking of the M20 project many times. I am absolutely committed to delivering a quality motorway between Cork and Limerick. I believe that Ireland's second and third city need to be linked with a proper road corridor but we also need to look at other alternatives such as a rail system that is fit for purpose and that will take people off the roads.

If we are to create the kind of counterbalance to the east coast and Dublin, which is overcrowded and needs counterbalance elsewhere around the country, then linking Cork and Limerick strategically makes a lot of sense, which is part of what the national planning framework talks about. In truth, this is an enormous project. It is going to take time to plan and it will need to go through the various permitting systems which is currently happening, and it will need to go through the necessary public consultation. While we currently see projects such as the Dunkettle interchange and the M22, as well as progress with regard to the M28 and many other projects in and around Cork city either happening in planning or taking shape, this is a huge project linking Ireland's second and third cities and it will take time. I believe the Government has been honest about that in the plans announced yesterday.

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