Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Shanahan for his foresight and vision in bringing forward this very simple, clear-cut and clearly worded Bill. I believe the Government is not going to oppose this Bill, and I welcome that. The important thing is we see this as something that actually brings back accountability for our public finances, and that we report on them. When I was in college, when we were teaching students, we had outcomes from the programmes we delivered. We need to know what the outcomes are going to be if this Bill is enacted.

I will tell the Minister of State straight up that between 2008 and 2018, the economist John Daly was the author of a report for the Northern and Western Regional Assembly in which he showed that there was a serious lack of funding in the eight counties of the region. This was to such an extent that the region has been downgraded to a region in transition from what was called before that a developing region. This has been done by the EU, and it is based on the expenditure per capitain the area. We are the lowest. We have a two-tier system going on in spite of all the rhetoric we get about balanced economic development, regional development and all of that.

I will point out a few things on that. There is serious discrimination, first of all, in the area of investment in health. About 20 years ago, Galway regional hospital, as it was once known, was designated as a centre of excellence for healthcare for over 1 million people in our area. Today, we still have people working out of prefabs, and we still have Nightingale wards. We do not have a cancer treatment area. We have a temporary emergency department, ED. We do not have proper maternity or paediatric units, and we are slowly grinding to try to get there. We are delivering worse outcomes with regard to health in this region. That is how it has manifested itself.

In the area of transport, Ireland West Knock Airport is probably the least-funded of our airports, and for what reason, I do not know. Back in time, if officials got their way, it would never have been built but we have over 1 million passengers coming into the west through that airport, and it is important that we support it. If one looks at the western rail corridor, phase 1 of which was completed in 2011 from Ennis to Athenry, we are still trying to get it pushed on from Athenry, through Tuam, Claremorris and all the way up to Collooney. I know the Minister for Transport is very supportive of that project but I want to see speedy progress there so that we can actually start building out what we need.

On education, what was once Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, is now Atlantic Technological University, ATU. When I was there over eight years ago as a lecturer, we were getting a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, building. We are still getting it but have not got it to date. The rate of progress in the development of educational facilities in the west of Ireland is very slow. It is probably slow all over the country. In Athenry, for example, there are two new schools but there is still a waiting list of over 180 students trying to get into first year in school. There are no places for them, and they are coming from the catchment area and the feeder schools. There is something really lacking in that.

When we talk about development, and we look at our ports, we look at Galway Port. For years, it has been trying to get permission to build a new, deeper port outside the existing port, and to develop inside the port for residential and business use. It has been a slow, grinding process. One can look at Ros an Mhíl, where there is a good, deep sea port that needs investment, Killybegs and Foynes. I acknowledge that at long last, we are building a rail connection to Foynes Port. I want to thank the Minister, Deputy Ryan for that as well. That is coming from Limerick out to the port. We need to do this at a pace that will give us an edge and allows the region to move from one that is struggling to one that can develop.

The feeling we have in the west of Ireland is that we get some crumbs from the table. We need to get more than crumbs if we are going to develop a balanced economy in this country. I would say that one of the biggest issues we have in that development process is a lack of housing. Our global industries that are located in Ireland are finding it very difficult to get into expansion mode due to the fact that housing is not available for their workers or additional workers.

I am at pains to point out that if our towns and villages across the region were to get investment in wastewater treatment plants, we would then be able to build affordable houses in those villages and towns. At the moment, we cannot build anything because An Bord Pleanála has frozen all planning in respect of a plethora of villages and towns due to the fact we do not have a wastewater treatment plant. Local authorities are saying it is up to Irish Water, and that organisation is saying it does not want to be involved because it is too much trouble. If we are to develop the west or any other region, we need to ensure that we have that infrastructure in place.

My final point on regional development is this. If we do not get up off our backsides and get on with the Galway ring road or decide to do something else in respect of the transport problems in Galway, the city will die. It is the nucleus of economic development in the west of Ireland. Everybody talks about the transport issues in Galway. On the radio, "AA Roadwatch" will probably mention Bothar na dTreabh first thing every morning. At this stage, it is just repeating the report from previous mornings. Transport has stagnated in the city. People are left sitting in their cars for hours trying to get to and from work. We have not provided the required bus lanes for public and private transport and we need to speed up the process of providing additional train services to get people to work. There is much to be done. Ultimately, in our region, there should be positive discrimination regarding investment. The EU can provide that enabler by giving us additional funding through structural funds. All we need to do is apply for this funding and get on with it.

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