Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

In my first speech in this Chamber I highlighted the need for major upgrades in infrastructure in the State and I used many examples in my county of infrastructural deficiencies and issues that need to be resolved. As Vice Chair of the new infrastructure committee I focused extensively on obtaining an understanding of the blockages in the system and the difficulties we have throughout the State in delivering the key infrastructure we need. We are working closely with the Department of public expenditure and key State agencies to highlight and resolve these.

Today I want to continue to highlight the need for key infrastructure project delivery in Kildare North, in light of the significant focus on infrastructure in the budget. Since the establishment of the Government we have seen the focus put on infrastructure and delivery and I welcome this. Projects such as MetroLink, the DART+ programme and the national broadband plan, along with many others, will have huge positive impacts on our country in years to come. Five towns were added to the living city initiative in the budget, which is great to see. I would like to speak to the needs of towns in Kildare, and the many projects needed to ensure Kildare, which has such a rapidly growing population each year, is not left behind in terms of implementing key infrastructure and building communities and not just housing.

In my home town of Leixlip a housing development with 900 new houses was recently built around the appropriately named Wonderful Barn. This development would have been eligible for the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, in the past but no new tranches of the grant have been introduced recently. Unfortunately, the project is not being further developed. As outlined in the budget, €300 million will be given to the URDF, which will help to support the regeneration of our towns and urban areas but we need to ensure Kildare projects in the north of the county will be included. My fear is the URDF is overly focused on regenerating older towns rather than helping to build new towns with bigger populations than those old towns, and I will continue to raise this.

In Celbridge there are traffic management issues that cause congestion multiple times a day. As one of the four councillors who voted in favour of the Celbridge local area plan in 2017, for the first time designating a second bridge for the town, I want to see this delivered. A total of €10 million of URDF funding has been allocated for the bridge but additional funding will be required to see it through to completion. I continue to work with Kildare County Council and TII as they move through various phases of the project. We will need additional funding to get the project shovel ready.

In Maynooth there is a university with more than 16,000 students and a town population of 17,000 people. Issues such as traffic are to the fore. School drops take too long and routine trips to the shops may mean joining endless traffic. Last Friday it took me 40 minutes to get out of the hotel car park in the town due to an accident on the N4. The relief road must be built.

Separately, with the continuation of DART+, as highlighted by the Minister on Tuesday, I want to reiterate once again the need for the DART+ to go to Kilcock. This would help to connect another 10,000 residents to the system. Traffic issues in Clane as well as Naas must also be addressed.

In my capacity as Vice Chair of the infrastructure committee I know that big projects need to be delivered. I want to be the one to ensure that, parallel to this, communities such as the towns in my constituency are not left to fend for themselves with projects left waiting for years. I ask that urgent infrastructure issues are fast tracked and URDF funding is allocated adequately so we get the underground and overground infrastructure, and, most importantly, the social infrastructure to go along with the houses and build communities.

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