Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

We need the private sector as well, in addition to the huge unprecedented public sector investment.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised public transport and the state of the bus services. A lot of investment has gone into the bus services. BusConnects has been slower because there has been huge consultation with people, residents and communities who had issues with BusConnects - let us be honest - and those were legitimate issues. We will continue to prioritise public services. It is not a privatised bus service. There is a substantial Bus Éireann contribution to public buses. Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann have expanded.

In reply to Deputy Quaide, there is work under way in respect of the alternative route into Cobh. There is the issue of the rail connection to the Youghal greenway. That is being developed but I get the issue. Cork to Midleton was the first railway expansion in its time and it reversed a trend lasting 50 or 60 years. It has been extremely effective. However, we need to continue to work on the economy within Youghal and create opportunities for people living in the town. It is an iconic and attractive area. That is something we have to continue to work on. We are very focused on the need to get that road situation into Cobh sorted. There are economic implications arising from that, in terms of releasing the docklands, the port, marina point and so on.

Deputy Tóibín raised Storm Babet. I dealt with some aspects of that in terms of the flood defence issues. The county council has worked on certain households and businesses and protecting them as interim steps, but, again, that is a complex scheme. It has numerous challenges and Midleton has numerous challenges in terms of potential flooding risks. That is understood. There is a lot of work going on to try to get that scheme going.

Deputy O'Sullivan raised the elective hospital. I put that back on the map at the time. I am going to pursue this. We have the site, and likewise in Galway. There has been a lot of school expansions in Cork as well. We will continue to focus to get more of those done, and more quickly. There are quite a number on the list that we need to get done. Now, with the allocation that has been given to education, we will certainly keep the pressure on to complete the projects. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is working particularly on the special education side to get special classes provided and get extensions done to accommodate extra autism classes.

Deputy Heneghen raised private wires. The Minister has got sanction from Cabinet and is progressing with the legislation. This is important because it will help some companies that are waiting for connection and so on.

See this speech in context