Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Newbridge in County Kildare has seen significant population growth in recent years. With a population of more than 22,500, it is the biggest town in County Kildare and the tenth biggest town in Ireland. It also has potential for further sustainable growth and development through planned developments as well as land zoned in other areas. Newbridge faces challenges, however. The main challenge is that of traffic as the main street is choked with congestion. Kildare County Council has an important proposal that identifies a site for a second bridge over the River Liffey. Along with road construction, it would create a link between Great Connell Road and the Athgarvan Road. While the council still needs to acquire planning permission for the bridge, some of the road linkages are being developed through private sector developments as part of ongoing planning permissions.

As the Minister of State is aware, Project Ireland 2040, the Government's national development plan for the years to 2040, acknowledges the direct pressure on areas Kildare, which I represent, and Meath, which he represents. These areas experienced massive growth during a very short period in the Celtic tiger. Many housing developments were built while the key infrastructure around them was not built at the same speed or to the same capacity. Project Ireland 2040 identifies the need to support areas like these where we can play catch-up. Newbridge is a perfect example. We need to see investment in key infrastructure; the return on investment for the State will be tangible.

I am mindful that the next round of the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, is due to open soon. I am raising this matter to see what steps Kildare County Council needs to take to strengthen its previous application and make a second bridge for Newbridge a top priority in its new application. The previous proposal sought to reduce congestion by moving traffic out of the town centre and off the main street. A new bridge would also complement other projects that have been developed or are being worked on. A grant has been allocated under the URDF towards the development of a cultural quarter in Newbridge. This will be at the lower end of the town closer to the river, where it will complement the redevelopment of our county grounds in St. Conleth's Park, the refurbishment of our town hall, which has happened, the planned upgrade of Riverbank Arts Centre and the development of a state-of-the-art library in that area. All of those elements are being funded through Project Ireland 2040 and there are ongoing plans for development of this cultural quarter. On the other side of Newbridge, further away from the river, we have a thriving retail hub around the Whitewater shopping centre.

Our Main Street has benefited from that. Our side streets can take more capacity and investment, all of which stems from ensuring we have a sustainable traffic plan for the future.

We can work on these projects because the National Transport Authority has a national transport framework developed for Newbridge. This plans to make Newbridge Main Street more accessible to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. The project could result in investment of €10 million by the NTA into Newbridge. The proposed improvements would see the displacement of traffic off the main street, but the delivery of a second bridge is crucial to that. The improvements would result in a reduction of our carbon footprint as well, allowing more residents to move within the town, either by cycling or as pedestrians, and by ensuring that the traffic is taken away. This was identified in the previous application from Kildare County Council, which sought to help compact and consolidated development on the zoned lands in Newbridge's south-east quadrant. This bridge makes sense in a whole realm of different areas and I ask the Minister of State how Kildare County Council can put its best foot forward for the next round of funding for the urban regeneration development fund.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Heydon for raising the need for a second bridge over the Liffey at Newbridge, County Kildare to be progressed through Project Ireland 2040 and the urban regeneration development fund, and for giving me the opportunity both to discuss that today and to outline how we as a Government believe that Project Ireland 2040 helps causes like this and helps to achieve, through the urban regeneration development fund, vital infrastructure like the bridge the Deputy has just outlined and other infrastructure.

The Deputy is correct in saying that Project Ireland 2040 sets out the plans for the next 20 to 25 years in this country, and through it we are going to try to rebalance population growth and housing construction with all of the required services. It will not just happen on the east coast, in Meath, Kildare, Dublin and many other places, but throughout the country. An important part of that regional balance is that while accommodating future development and growth in all counties, including additional growth in Meath and Kildare, we rectify some of the mistakes of the past. A key part of Project Ireland 2040 is recognising that examples can be seen in many areas in the greater Dublin region of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and probably Louth where increased housing development, with all of the pressures that brings, was not matched with the infrastructure or services required. We want to try to correct that through the various funds as well as allowing for more compact development, developing a lot of those back streets in towns and villages, which the Deputy referred to, together with those brownfield sites that are not necessarily being used very well.

The urban regeneration development fund, URDF, is a flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, comprising an allocation of €2 billion in the national development plan to 2027, with €58 million available in 2019 and an overall Exchequer allocation of €550 million earmarked up to the end of 2022. The URDF was established to support more compact and sustainable development - sustainable is the key word when it comes to Newbridge - through the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland's five cities and other large towns, like Newbridge, in line with the objectives of the national planning framework and the national development plan. This is to enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of cities and towns and to ensure that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work as well as to invest in and visit.

That is the key part here, which is trying to go back into areas that experienced housing development - the Deputy pointed out Newbridge has quite a large population of 22,500 - and make such places are more attractive as places that people want to live in and raise their families. It is also to help these towns win investment and jobs to support people already living there and who will live there in the future. It is important that we get that right. We know that by investing through these funds, we are making towns, villages and cities more attractive and secure. This is about future-proofing communities, neighbourhoods, towns and villages, and that is what we are trying to achieve here.

Bids were invited from public bodies for funding under the URDF and a total of 189 applications were received by my Department in the first call for proposals earlier in 2018. On 26 November 2018, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, announced the initial URDF support of €100 million for a total of 88 projects throughout the country. The applications received contained a wide variety of themes and sectoral areas, from urban regeneration and public realm works to enabling strategic infrastructure to leveraging further development to cultural and amenity development. Applications received fell into two categories: projects that were ready to go and funding to support the initial development of projects, that is, master planning feasibility to ensure a pipeline of projects into the future.

The Deputy asked me what Kildare can do. Kildare County Council submitted seven proposals on the previous occasion, one of which was Newbridge. It was not successful at that time. It was the link road on the bridge from Great Connell Road to Athgarvan Road in Newbridge. This proposal did not achieve full marks and was not awarded the go-ahead then. The Deputy asked whether planning should be applied for. Planning would certainly help. There is also funding available under section B, to progress the planning, study, marketability and feasibility of that, which is also the case in Celbridge, County Kildare. That funding can be used as proof of concept to bring it through the various planning stages and to have it ready for funding under section A as well. There are two options with this fund that would suit this project, and Kildare County Council should make another application, as applications will be open again in the near future before the end of this year. I hope such an application will be successful this year.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response and will take his points of view on board. I am glad the urban regeneration development fund will open up for applications again before the end of the year. I will work closely with officials in the Kildare County Council, as I have done up until now, to ensure that we put our best foot forward for a second bridge for Newbridge. This bridge meets the objectives of the national planning framework, that is, sustainable, balanced development. It ticks all of those boxes. There is a pot of money of €10 million from the NTA for it to use Newbridge as a pilot scheme to develop an overall transport framework that could then be rolled out as a template for other provincial towns. This is a massive opportunity for us and we cannot allow that opportunity to be wasted. A second bridge is needed for that plan to work in its entirety.

Project Ireland 2040 is about making our towns and counties better places to live in. Many of my constituents in Newbridge aspire not to have to travel up the N7 or on the overcrowded trains out of Newbridge every day, and instead to be able to work locally in the area. A second bridge over the River Liffey would make Newbridge an even more attractive place for industry to invest in. We have jobs, industry and investment at the minute, but we yearn for more to give more options to our residents to live there.

I take the Minister of State’s point of view on board that it would help if the bridge had planning. There are ways that we can further that objective, perhaps, as we have developed sections of road privately. It may be possible to do that as well with a bridge. We will continue to do that work.

I will finish by saying that there are maps dating back to 1752, drawn up before the town started, marking the new bridge in the vicinity of Old Connell, and that gave its name to Droichead Nua. Hundreds of years later, our needs are very different but the demand and pressure on our town is very significant. Newbridge requires a second bridge or traffic will have nowhere to go off Main Street because it is currently congested. The benefits for residents and for the wider socio-economic environment in the greater Newbridge-south Kildare area are very significant, and I look forward to an application going into the Minister of State in the near future.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is making a strong case for Newbridge and this infrastructure in the next round of funding. I understand the council has engaged with the officials in my Department since the previous round, in which it was not successful, although it had some success in other areas. It would be important that it would make a second application and make it as strong as possible by highlighting all the issues the Deputy has just highlighted, such as the potential growth of the town, the spaces that could still be used for compact development, more housing, community services, and – the key phrase – winning jobs to match the existing housing and population. That is what these funds are for.

Something that always happened was that long-term plans were set out, but under Project Ireland 2040, we are trying to back up those plans and make them happen by putting real money behind them. There is no point in having long-term planning and thinking if they are not backed up with the finances. For the first time, with the national development plan and the national planning framework, we have a ten-year plan of €116 billion in taxpayers’ money that is being and will be spent. A review of the first 18 months of Project Ireland 2040 shows that is happening. It can be seen that projects are part of a national plan. It is very important that when local authorities are making applications to these funds, they align them to the national objectives and strongly align them with local objectives to allow for a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprint of cities and towns, which is exactly what the Deputy outlined in Newbridge. There is the opportunity, and it might correct some of the mistakes of the past and free up space and land for future development. That is key, as is making those links very clear. I hope that Kildare County Council will do that in the next round of funding, which I am happy to clarify will be open for applications before the end of the year.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Heydon for raising the need for a second bridge over the Liffey at Newbridge, County Kildare to be progressed through Project Ireland 2040 and the urban regeneration development fund, and for giving me the opportunity both to discuss that today and to outline how we as a Government believe that Project Ireland 2040 helps causes like this and helps to achieve, through the urban regeneration development fund, vital infrastructure like the bridge the Deputy has just outlined and other infrastructure.

The Deputy is correct in saying that Project Ireland 2040 sets out the plans for the next 20 to 25 years in this country, and through it we are going to try to rebalance population growth and housing construction with all of the required services. It will not just happen on the east coast, in Meath, Kildare, Dublin and many other places, but throughout the country. An important part of that regional balance is that while accommodating future development and growth in all counties, including additional growth in Meath and Kildare, is that we rectify some of the mistakes of the past. A key part of Project Ireland 2040 is recognising that examples can be seen in many areas in the greater Dublin region of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and probably Louth where increased housing development, with all of the pressures that brings, was not matched with the infrastructure or services required. We want to try to correct that through the various funds as well as allowing for more compact development, developing a lot of those back streets in towns and villages, which the Deputy referred to, together with those brownfield sites that are not necessarily being used very well.

The urban regeneration development fund URDF is a flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, comprising an allocation of €2 billion in the national development plan to 2027, with €58 million available in 2019 and an overall Exchequer allocation of €550 million earmarked up to the end of 2022. The URDF was established to support more compact and sustainable development - sustainable is the key word when it comes to Newbridge - through the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland's five cities and other large towns, like Newbridge, in line with the objectives of the national planning framework and the national development plan. This is to enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of cities and towns and to ensure that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work as well as to invest in and visit.

That is the key part here, which is trying to go back into areas that experienced housing development - the Deputy pointed out Newbridge has quite a large population of 22,500 - and make such places more attractive as places that people want to live in and raise their families. It is also to help these towns win investment and jobs to support people already living there now and who will live there in the future. It is important that we get that right. We know that by investing through these funds, we are making towns, villages and cities more attractive and secure. This is about future-proofing communities, neighbourhoods, towns and villages, and that is what we are trying to achieve here.

Bids were invited from public bodies for funding under the URDF and a total of 189 applications were received by my Department in the first call for proposals earlier in 2018. On 26 November 2018, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, announced the initial URDF support of €100 million for a total of 88 projects throughout the country. The applications received contained a wide variety of themes and sectoral areas, from urban regeneration and public realm works to enabling strategic infrastructure to leveraging further development to cultural and amenity development. Applications received fell into two categories: projects that are ready to go and funding to support the initial development of projects, that is master planning feasibility to ensure a pipeline of projects into the future.

The Deputy asked me what Kildare can do. Kildare County Council submitted seven proposals on the previous occasion, one of which was Newbridge. It was not successful at that time. It was the link road on the bridge from Great Connell Road to Athgarvan Road in Newbridge. This proposal did not achieve full marks and was not awarded the go-ahead then. The Deputy asked whether planning should be applied for. Planning would certainly help. There is also funding available under section B, to progress the planning, study, marketability and feasibility of that, which is also the case in Celbridge, County Kildare. That funding can be used as proof of concept to bring it through the various planning stages and to have it ready for funding under section A as well. There are two options with this fund that would suit this project, and Kildare County Council should make another application, as applications will be open again in the near future before the end of this year. I hope such an application will be successful this year.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response and will take his points of view on board. I am glad the urban regeneration development fund will open up for applications again before the end of the year. I will work closely with officials in the Kildare County Council, as I have done up until now, to ensure that we put our best foot forward for a second bridge for Newbridge. This bridge meets the objectives of the national planning framework, that is, sustainable, balanced development. It ticks all of those boxes. There is a pot of money of €10 million from the NTA for it to use Newbridge as a pilot scheme to develop an overall transport framework that could then be rolled out as a template for other provincial towns. This is a massive opportunity for us and we cannot allow that opportunity to be wasted. A second bridge is needed for that plan to work in its entirety.

Project Ireland 2040 is about making our towns and counties better places to live in. Many of my constituents in Newbridge aspire not to have to travel up the N7 or on the overcrowded trains out of Newbridge every day, and instead to be able to work locally in the area. A second bridge over the River Liffey would make Newbridge an even more attractive place for industry to invest in. We have jobs, industry and investment at the minute, but we yearn for more to give more options to our residents to live there.

I take the Minister of State's point of view on board that it would help if the bridge had planning. There are ways that we can further that objective, perhaps, as we have developed sections of road privately. It may be possible to do that as well with a bridge. We will continue to do that work.

I will finish by saying that there are maps dating back to 1752, drawn up before the town started, marking the new bridge in the vicinity of Old Connell, and that gave its name to Droichead Nua. Hundreds of years later, our needs are very different but the demand and pressure on our town is very significant. Newbridge requires a second bridge or traffic will have nowhere to go off the main street because it is currently congested. The benefits for residents and for wider the socio-economic environment in the greater Newbridge-south Kildare are very significant, and I look forward to an application going into the Minister of State in the near future.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is making a strong case for Newbridge and this infrastructure in the next round of funding. I understand the council has engaged with the officials in my Department since the previous round, in which it was not successful, although it had some success in other areas. It would be important that it would make a second application and make it as strong as possible by highlighting all the issues the Deputy has just highlighted, such as the potential growth of the town, the spaces that could still be used for compact development, more housing, community services, and – the key phrase – winning jobs to match the existing housing and population. That is what these funds are for.

Something that always happened is that long-term plans were set out, but under Project Ireland 2040, we are trying to back up those plans and make them happen by putting real money behind them. There is no point in having long-term planning and thinking if they are not backed up with the finances. For the first time, with the national development plan and the national planning framework, we have a ten-year plan of €116 billion in taxpayers’ money that is being and will be spent. A review of the first 18 months of Project Ireland 2040 shows that is happening. It can be seen that projects are part of a national plan. It is very important that when local authorities are making applications to these funds, they align them to the national objectives and strongly align them with local objectives to allow for a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprint of cities and towns, which is exactly what the Deputy outlined in Newbridge. There is the opportunity and it might correct some of the mistakes of the past and free up space and land for future development. That is key, as is making those links very clear. I hope that Kildare County Council will do that in the next round of funding, which I am happy to clarify will be open for applications before the end of the year.