Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Dea for raising this important matter. It is probably fair to say that there are a number of national projects based in Dublin that obviously provide benefit to people from Limerick and people from the regions. I would have to look into it but I imagine that has had some impact on the figures but I take the point that he makes. We need to continue to actively prioritise and promote balanced regional development and using our capital budget is one way to do that. I would say to the Deputy is there will be a number of opportunities, including when we debate what to do with Apple funding, probably in the next Dáil, to seek to make progress on the issue of further capital funding in the regions, particularly Limerick which I am sure is on the Deputy's mind.

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