Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My time is short so I wish to emphasise the critical importance of tax justice nationally and internationally and how Ireland must play a full proactive role in ensuring social solidarity in the global tax regime. Knowing how political the Commission can be, I was initially concerned about what we would call competence creep but the ECJ has backed the Commission and we have to learn lessons and move on.

A sum of €14 billion is a very substantial pot and while everybody, including me, has a shopping list, it is essential that the Government ensures a balanced spread across the regions. The figures for the northern and western region are staggering. They show it lags far behind other regions when it comes to Government spend. The regional assembly figures show that since 2016, with 17% of the population, just 11% of projects in excess of €1 million were committed to the region and, shamefully, only 5.7% of projects in excess of €20 million. This is a bare one third of what we should get. Last year, housing completions in the region were at 11% for 17% of the population.

We are way behind when it comes to Government investment. Projects such as the upgrade of the Knock to Collooney section of the N17, the full upgrade of Sligo University Hospital, the double-tracking of the Sligo-Dublin railway and a fair share of housing, to name but a few, have to be on the priority list of this and the next Government.

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