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

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and assure her that the essence of the national development plan is to address the regional imbalance in economic development in the country. She mentioned the citywide strategy. That is a good thing because it will help all regions in terms of that imbalance.

If the Deputy looks at key sectors such as education, for example, there is investment in the technological university embracing Sligo, Letterkenny and Galway-Mayo institutes of technology, ITs. They will comprise one technological university for the north west, which will be a significant help in driving the economy of the region. Each of those institutional campuses has its strengths. I have been to the IT Sligo campus on a number of occasions. It has a unique robotic technology centre, for example. It is also strong in relation to small to medium-sized companies. Funding is provided for further development for the IT Sligo central campus extension. The Sligo Cultural Plaza is identified in the NDP as are the Sligo cultural and learning hub, the Sligo hospital regeneration and a range of other proposals. I was recently at the ceremony for the completion of the Sligo western distributor road as well as the new N4 upgrade. That will be a significant boost from a road infrastructure perspective.

The various funding streams through the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, and the rural development fund will add to the NDP in creating infrastructural and human skills investment in the north-west region. There is no doubt that we have to rebalance economic development in the country. In this NDP there is a strong focus on that rebalancing.

Only last week the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, published the rural transport plans, which involve a substantial expansion of what was there before. That is about trying to create a critical mass in the regions, particularly in the north west, to ensure sustained economic development. The NDP is a high-level document in terms of the broader range of objectives, aims and so on. Within that, it gives rise to a range of projects on a smaller scale which will be delivered in a timely and efficient manner.

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