Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's comments on the Athenry to Claremorris project and the Limerick to Shannon project, for which I have been advocating for some years. I am delighted it is on the agenda. I strongly believe these should be among the highest priorities of the Government to deliver. They are not complex or difficult projects and they are not expensive projects. They should be pursued with urgency. I have a concern we might begin to speak about business cases and feasibility studies. A decision needs to be made that we get on with these. The obvious benefit is there for balanced regional development. I do not know how the Minister factors this in to any analysis or public spending code. A decision should be made and they should happen. I am concerned about the national planning framework. The targets contained in the draft do not support these projects sufficiently. The national planning framework targets and the narrative in the national planning framework need to be reviewed before the document is finalised, such that they support these types of fundamentally positive projects.

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