Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, if we are to build houses, we need infrastructure, water and sewerage, so money has to go towards that, probably a few billion euros. Second, at a meeting in Limerick, we discussed the designated maritime area plan, DMAP, for offshore wind but the Government had not done anything about it. If that is the opening to the huge potential of wind turbines 30 miles off our coast, we need a road along the coast to serve the infrastructure. We need to upgrade the M20, the road from Galway to Donegal, the Mullingar to Westport road, with a spur across to Sligo, and the road from Cavan across Monaghan to make sure we are interconnected. Money also needs to be put towards affordable housing. We are at a stage where the people who are working hard every day cannot afford a house, and we need to put money towards that. We need prudent spending on infrastructural projects that will benefit us down the road, and not throw the money away in bits and pieces only to end up with no reward.

There is a huge opportunity to get this country kick-started. On top of that, in the area of public transport, we need light rail in Cork and Galway. However, we need to make sure that the decisions we make are prudent. The €14 billion will not be enough to do what we need to do over the next five to seven years to kick-start the country, give it the infrastructure it needs and, above all, tilt the balance back towards rural Ireland. If we look at the statistics quoted already, the west and north west are lagging behind. We could bring a new boom from Ringaskiddy right up to Donegal if we put in the infrastructure properly.

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