Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to balanced regional development, something we all support. Page 60 of the programme for Government contains a commitment to develop the cities of Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Galway as viable alternatives to Dublin. In the National Development Plan 2021-2030, the indicative capital expenditure on those four cities for the period ending in 2030 is €8.3 billion. The comparable figure for Dublin is €31.3 billion, almost four times as much. I know there is a population difference but even the per capita investment is still skewed to the east coast. Does the Government propose to alter the capital distribution within the national development plan to realise its objective of balanced regional development?

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