Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the opportunity to say a few words about the tax money that has come our way in the limited time I have. I am sure that everybody will have a shopping list and whatever. I too have a shopping list, but the shopping list is a bit like what Deputy Leddin said, in that there are projects we can invest in which will give us a return in our economy for generations to come. The western rail corridor is a prime example, were we to develop Knock Airport, Shannon Airport and Cork Airport to take the pressure off Dublin and to do connectivity works to them in terms of rail transport for commuters and freight transport for the companies populated along the western region. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has always said that there is a lack of investment in regional Ireland. The reason for that is because we have overconcentrated our investments in Dublin and around the Pale. We are now reaping the results of that with congestion in the airport, limits on what we can bring in and out of the airport and all kinds of confusion when we have other opportunities to develop this country into what it should be. Housing can be developed if we put the investment into land that needs to be serviced. In my own county, there are more than 30 towns and villages without a wastewater treatment plant. No houses can be built there because An Bord Pleanála has ruled that any such development would be premature without having a wastewater treatment plant. We also have a legacy of processes that are delaying the building of infrastructure. That is costing money because every year of delay costs more money. We have not had the appetite, however, to look at the processes we are using for planning and procurement and to approve projects. They are never-ending without a single bit of work getting done. We have a training levy that employers pay for every employee they have.

It is a couple of billion euro and it is not being used to train additional apprentices. It is not being used to make sure that we have further capacity. It should be used to bring people back into this country from foreign shores.

There is a lot to be talked about but the action needed is to cut out much of the red tape, much of the messing that is going on and the loss of money with nothing shown for it. I hope that before any work is done, we will have a better method by which we will carry out infrastructure projects. I also agree with Deputy Verona Murphy that our planning is a complete farce at this stage.

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