Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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This time last year we were in the middle of the campaign to be elected to this House. The primary issue in Kildare was the lack of critical infrastructure, including social infrastructure, especially in the north of the county. During the housing crisis throughout the country, Kildare has taken a lot of the housing, particularly as a result of the pressures on Dublin. I welcome a lot of that housing. I am living in a house that was built in recent years. I welcome more housing in my constituency. We saw a 12.8% increase in the population of Kildare North between 2016 and 2022. I have no doubt the population has become a lot higher since then given the amount of housing that has been built. Despite this, we are struggling when it comes to core infrastructure.

On the situation with regard to schools, I will refer to the three-school campus in Celbridge. St. Patrick’s Primary School has been in prefabs since its inception and these structures are falling apart. St. Raphael’s Special School still has not got its new school building. Celbridge Community School is still in temporary accommodation as well.

On water infrastructure and outages, I think of Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth and especially the issues at Primrose Hill and Hazelhatch in Celbridge earlier this year.

There is no full-time Garda station in Maynooth, Celbridge, Kilcock or Clane. Maynooth has a population of over 17,500 people and an additional 17,000 students but no full-time Garda station. You would not get it in other parts of the country but for some reason Kildare needs to put up with it time and time again.

On childcare infrastructure, it is impossible for young parents to find a crèche. There is no primary care centre in Maynooth or in Leixlip even though both towns are bulging. There is no community centre in my home town of Maynooth. If a rural town had no community centre there would be uproar but we in the north east of Kildare in particular have to put up with it time and time again.

On playgrounds and recreational spaces, we have been promised a new playground in Maynooth. We have received a new playground in Kilcock, which is welcome, but it has been left in a terrible state since it was finished. Clane’s playground is outdated. An upgrade was pledged for the one in Celbridge by Kildare County Council but still has not been delivered. There is no public swimming pool in the north east of Kildare. There is no public swimming pool for families in Maynooth, Leixlip, Celbridge, Clane and throughout the north west of the county, even though there has been commitment after commitment. There are issues with energy and water, and outages of both, time and time again, as I have said.

If we are expecting communities to take on more housing, which Kildare has done for the past 20 years, we should be building the social infrastructure to match it. Children should be guaranteed a crèche to go to, a school to go to, a doctor to care for them when they are sick and gardaí to look out for the community when there are issues, but these things are not happening. Older people should have a general practitioner they can rely on, but we are not seeing it. My job as a newly elected TD is to ensure the best not only for the people of Kildare but also for the people of the country as a whole, as we all do. However, I suggest that because we are seen as a wealthy county we are not seeing the investment we should.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I compliment him on his passion and advocacy for key infrastructure projects in his constituency and for raising the requirement for investment in infrastructure, and its delivery, to become key priorities for the Government. He earlier raised the issues with large-scale renewable energy projects so this very much follows from that.

As highlighted in the programme for Government, delivery of essential infrastructure is a key driver in ensuring our economy’s competitiveness and resilience. In the past five years more than €65 billion has been invested in capital infrastructure projects across the country to improve people’s lives, including through the national development plan. It is estimated that total capital investment in 2025 will be close to €17 billion by the end of the year. This represents the highest annual spend to date in the country and this level of investment is going to increase even further. The revised NDP published in July sets out over €275 billion in public capital investment out to 2035. It is the largest and most significant capital injection in our economy in the history of the State. The Government has prioritised investment towards critical growth-enabling sectors, mainly housing, energy, water and transport, in line with the ambitions in the review to enable the delivery of over 300,000 new homes and to boost our economic competitiveness.

As well as the core housing and competitive objectives, the Government recognises that the delivery of essential infrastructure is a key driver for enabling and fostering balanced regional development. The NDP investment aligns with the national planning framework, Ireland’s planning and spatial strategy, to form Project Ireland 2040, which is an overarching national strategy for social, economic and cultural development. Since Project Ireland 2040 was first launched in 2018, the Government has overseen the delivery of many impactful NDP projects across the country. This includes projects in Kildare North such as the widening of the M7 between Naas and Newbridge; the Sallins bypass; the Maynooth University technology, society and innovation building; a new 1,000-pupil post-primary school in Naas Community College; and Naas library. Numerous small projects have also been delivered or are planned for north Kildare in the housing, education and cultural sectors, including the delivery of hundreds of new housing units over recent years across towns such as Naas, Maynooth and Kilcock. The budget published in October lays out an Exchequer capital expenditure allocation of €19.1 billion, which is an increase of €2 billion on 2025, for increased infrastructure projects and programmes right across the country.

This includes investment in projects in north Kildare such as the development of student accommodation at Maynooth University; the protection and renewal of the heavy rail network and fleet renewal; the development of the DART+ programme; the progression of the Grand Canal greenway; investment in the eastern and midlands region water supply project; the progression of Uisce Éireann's Enfield to Kilcock trunk main project and Leixlip water treatment plant upgrade; and the development of smaller projects in north Kildare across sectors including schools, housing and cultural areas.

Further to the announcement of the 2026 capital priorities on budget day, Ministers will publish their sectoral capital plans this month. They will outline the projects to be prioritised for delivery over the next five years from the increased NDP investment, and will provide further detail to the Deputy on the capital programme and projects to be delivered right across the country, including in Kildare North.

Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the response. One of the key things the Minister of State said was that this is to boost the delivery of new homes. The investments in Kildare North are primarily to accommodate new homes being built. My point is that investment is not being made in the social infrastructure that is required for the existing population, notwithstanding the future population. DART+ and improvements to water infrastructure are welcome but let us be real here. This is about allowing more homes to be built in Kildare. As I have said, I welcome new homes in Kildare. We need as many new homes as possible. However, what I am speaking about here is primary care centres, Garda stations and community centres. These are core elements if a society is to run properly. I have been contacted by families who cannot get a GP. There are new mums who cannot get a GP for themselves or for their children. There are serious issues in towns and villages in rural areas around Kildare but the call-out times for gardaí, through no fault of the Garda division in Kildare, are not good enough. I look at schools that are crumbling and housed in temporary accommodation. This is not good enough for the existing population, notwithstanding all these additional homes we are going to build in Kildare. We need those new homes. That is fine but if we want social cohesion and for people to live a good and normal life, we need to ensure they have the basic services they need and deserve.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raises some very important points. I assure him that investment to improve our infrastructure and accelerate infrastructure delivery is a key priority of this Government. As I said earlier, over the coming weeks Ministers will publish their capital investment plans for the next five years. As the Deputy has said, it is critically important that Kildare North features heavily in many of these plans. The Deputy mentioned Garda stations, primary care centres and community centres. We need developments with that type of orientation. It is critically important. The national planning framework has been published. I am sure extensive work has been done on commuter bands and on areas where there is a requirement for additional health services, schools and public amenities. I look forward to seeing these investment plans. It is really important that they are detailed and that they include reference to Kildare North in many sectors, including transport. As the Deputy said earlier, if large-scale developments are being built, that development should be transport-oriented and support public transport, including rail and roads. It is also important that these announcements are not just published in isolation but as part of a collective plan. As a Government, we are very focused on increasing capital development and accelerating delivery. It is important that, through the newly established infrastructure development unit, we see these projects not only being announced but being progressed through the planning and procurement stages and delivered at pace. It is incumbent on us all to continue to raise the level of ambition and to ensure that the revised national development plan, to which over €275 billion has been assigned out to 2035, is delivered in full right across the country.