Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I take the Deputy's point. By the way, Galway East is a strategic region of growth for the Government. We are putting a lot of money into towns like Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Athenry, Gort and Portumna. They are being strengthened as a result of residential, commercial and service centres. We want to create more investment flow into east Galway, more economic opportunities, better regional balance and so on. There is big stuff happening in terms of infrastructure, such as national regional road networks, Irish Water investment and the national broadband plan. As a strong advocate for increased rail improvements, the Deputy knows that money will be allocated to rail for east Galway and the whole corridor there. Housing targets have to be developed. All that will need energy, so we have to weigh it up in the balance. I do not disagree with the Deputy's basic call for guideline frameworks to be in place. I was in Eli Lilly some years ago and I opened a solar farm. It had a dairy farm around it. That solar farm now provides 25% of the energy for the Eli Lilly plant.

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