Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will give the Deputy one example, because she talks about big projects. From memory, the Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge road, not by act of nature, is a single carriageway of approximately 35 km. It is costing the guts of half a billion euro and pretty much a doubling of the previous contract, which, unfortunately, was not able to be concluded because the contractor went out of business. If one were looking for an example of Government commitment to this region, that was a significant investment. It was a significant budget ask but the Government did not flinch in recognising, as the Deputy says, we must promote connectivity in the north west. We had that project at contract stage and we made the decision to proceed. That is one example among many that I could cite.

The real test will come, as I said, in the coming months as regards who agrees with the western rail corridor and this revival of rail freight as one example of a further investment in the north west that we need to make

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