Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The executive and many members of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, NWRA, were in Dublin two weeks ago to meet Oireachtas Members and present a briefing note on infrastructure, or the lack thereof, in the northern and western region. With the upcoming review of the national development plan, I take this opportunity to press the Government to address the current imbalance of investment in our region and others. In its submission, the NWRA identified 33 infrastructure projects across the nine local authorities that need to be considered in the review of the national development plan. This is about playing catch-up. The facts are clear to be seen. This includes projects such as the Carrick-on-Shannon bypass, the Galway ring road, the N17 Knock to Collooney road scheme, the North-South interconnector, the N15, Sligo harbour regeneration and many others. I urge the Minister for public expenditure to embrace this document before work begins on the review of the national development plan.

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