Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has a very important role to play here with respect to the strategic development of the country. What we are trying to do with the NPF is rebalance our island. That is the stated objective. To that end, we have to take the opportunity presented. The way to do this is by investing in the right kind of infrastructure. We have to be cautious and guard against embracing the predict-and-provide approach whereby we see a problem emerging and we react by adding another lane to a motorway, building a new road or whatever. That is where most of the political pressure comes into play. We are expected to react to what we see emerging. That pulls us away from taking a strategic approach which is more about deciding and providing. In other words, to look at the country we want to have in a few decades' time and decide where we want the demand to exist and where we want the people to live, and to make our infrastructure investment decisions accordingly.

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