Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist seo a ardú, ach níl sé ceart faoi ar chor ar bith. He is not correct at all in his assertion. We have the largest ever national development plan, with €105 billion of investment between now and the end of the decade, and €245 billion-plus in total. Those are the facts. Now it is about delivery and we are seeing lots of our projects across the country coming through planning and starting to commence. I am sure the Deputy shares our commitment under the NDP and welcomes the investments we are making. Since assuming office, I have seen the impact of those investments, which are happening on a regional basis and in rural communities right across the Republic.

I will give a couple of examples. In Cork, I attended the contract signing for the M28 Ringaskiddy project, which will benefit the entire south-west region by providing much-needed improved access to the Port of Cork, thereby enhancing competitiveness for the region as a whole. In Limerick, I have been on site to see the progress being made on the Adare bypass. It is being delivered as the first phase of the overall N69 Foynes to Limerick project, which will play a similar role for the mid-west in improving access to the Port of Foynes and will be complemented by the work under way on reopening the rail link to the port as well. These are real projects that are actually happening. In the north west, we are funding Donegal County Council's trans-European transport network, TEN-T, improvement project - unfortunately, Deputy Charles Ward has left the Chamber - which will likely represent the largest single investment in infrastructure in the north west and the construction of which will be delivered through funding I have secured on behalf of our citizens as part of the NDP review.

That is just a snapshot of the investments being made by the Government. Wherever I have been since assuming office, I have seen at first hand the impact of new and improved bus services in rural Ireland and connectivity between rural towns, as the Minister of State outlined in his response to the previous question. Yes, we need to do a lot more. The NDP is fully funded and the projects we deliver will be transformative and will build on the progress already made.

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