Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide an update regarding investment in critical infrastructure in the west of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50878/26]

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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21. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide an update on infrastructure investment in the west of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51496/26]

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister provide an update on investment in infrastructure in the west of Ireland?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 21 together.

As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets overall expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group. These are laid out at Vote level in the budget day expenditure report published in October, with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates for public services published in December. Following the allocation of each ministerial expenditure ceiling, it is a matter for each Minister to assign funding as appropriate at programme and subhead level for their Departments and the agencies under their remit, accounting for the demands for services in different areas and regions and having regard to demographics and other factors. Within this process, both current and capital expenditure are allocated on a departmental basis and not a geographic basis.

More broadly, the achievement of balanced regional development is a key priority of this Government and is at the heart of Project Ireland 2040, which includes the national planning framework, which sets out the wider spatial strategy for the next 20 years, along with the national development plan, NDP. Since Project Ireland 2040 was launched in 2018, the Government has overseen the delivery of many impactful NDP projects across the country, including in the west of Ireland, for example: the enterprise centres in Boyle and Tulsk in Roscommon and in Belmullet and Swinford in Mayo; the N59 Moycullen bypass; the Salmon Weir Bridge in Galway; the Killaloe bypass in Clare; and heritage and tourism projects in Portumna in Galway and Aghleam in Mayo.

The NDP Review 2025 was published in line with the programme for Government commitment. The plan committed €275.4 billion in public capital investment to 2035, the largest and most significant capital investment in the history of the State. Arising from this, €19.1 billion in Exchequer capital investment will be provided in 2026. On budget day, Ministers set out the capital projects and programmes they will prioritise within their allocation. Over the end of 2025 and early 2026, Ministers developed sectoral plans for investment considering sectoral needs, including across balanced regional development. The plans published to date include planned investment and projects across the country, with many across the west of Ireland: Uisce Éireann upgrades of water and wastewater treatment plants in Lough Mask and Claremorris in Mayo; 35 social and 310 affordable new housing units in Crown Square in Galway; new transport infrastructure with Bus Connects Galway, the Galway city ring road, and the N5 in Roscommon; and sports and community facilities with the Renville Sports and Community Centre and the east Galway sports campus. That is just a small flavour of some of the projects that are being identified across the sectoral plans, which are multi-year plans to deliver across critical areas.

Progress in achieving balanced regional development and detailing the delivery of the NDP is monitored through regular updates on the capital investment tracker and the MyProjectIreland interactive map viewer. The capital investment tracker provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments, with an estimated cost of more than €20 million. Accompanying the tracker, the MyProjectIreland interactive map details projects across the country by county and contains smaller investments such as schools, healthcare facilities and social housing projects. In addition, my Department also publishes the Project Ireland 2040 annual report and regional reports, highlighting achievements and giving a detailed overview of the public investments that have been made, are being made and are planned to be made right throughout the country.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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I want to raise a really important piece of infrastructure from a tourism perspective in County Galway, which is Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara. The Minister may be aware that this iconic landmark has remained closed to the public in recent years. It is in the ownership of the Shannon Group. There have been attempts to have ownership transferred to Galway County Council with a view to the council bringing it up to a safe standard and ultimately reopening it but funding issues have prevented that from happening. As per an update provided by Galway County Council, I understand that the OPW and the Department of housing are now exploring acquiring the castle and that an expression of interest may have been made. That would be very much welcomed by the local community, who are very eager to see the building in new ownership and ultimately opened up to the general public again. It has been a huge loss to the tourism offering in Kinvara and the wider region.

This question might be more appropriate for the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. Will he confirm that this is being explored or at least give me a commitment that he will come back to me with an update?

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I will come back to the Deputy. There has been a meeting between Galway County Council and ourselves. I do not know what stage it is at, but if the Deputy bears with me, I will come back to him in due course.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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How much time do I have?

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Deputies Farrell and O'Hara have one minute each.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I have a minute, then he has a minute, and I have a minute again. Is that correct? I am sorry but it is a bit confusing.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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It is a long night.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Deputies Farrell and O'Hara have a minute each, as have the Minster and the Minister of State.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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That is perfect. That is all I wanted to know.

The underfunding of Galway County Council is an issue that I and Teachtaí O'Hara and Kerrane recently raised. We did not get a commitment in relation to that from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, but my issue is that we have a crumbling infrastructure in the west of Ireland when it comes to the basic necessities. If we cannot get a commitment from the Government that it is going to adequately fund the county council to be able provide the basic services that are required for the people living in rural County Galway, then we need to see a commitment from Government that it will invest in that infrastructure. If the Government is not going to fund the council to be able to do those things it needs to have done, then we need the Government to intervene and provide that funding.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am not privy to the interaction the Deputy had with the Minister for housing on this, but the Local Government Fund distributes the respective funding across different local authorities, and Galway County Council and Galway City Council would receive allocations through that.

I was clear in my initial response to Deputy O'Hara. We have significant investment across many projects in the west of Ireland for water and wastewater treatment, which is required to build new homes. There is also the investment that ESB and EirGrid are doing in the context of our grid to ensure we can get energy connections, as well as the many critical projects, including the Galway ring road, which has been sitting there, as it were, for years. We need to drive on and get things built. That is what we are seeking to do across much of the infrastructure.

The specific day-to-day funding of local authorities is a matter that the Minister for housing engages with local authorities on and the funding model is separate to the wider infrastructure conversation in terms of the national development plan, some of which, to be fair, is delivered through local authorities, especially funding for particular roads, but some of the bigger road projects are funded through Transport Infrastructure Ireland. It depends on the particular project the Deputy is raising.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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I am going back to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. This is in relation to the castle. It is a key and world-class attraction on the Wild Atlantic Way. This castle has been closed for the past three years, as I mentioned, and is a huge loss to the local community. I know the OPW has a lot of other similar sites in County Galway, of which Athenry Castle and Portumna Castle are two that come to mind, and the OPW does a good job of running those sites. They are fantastic attractions, and I have a lot of confidence and faith in the OPW's ability to make a success out of Dunguaire Castle as well. Local people would welcome the OPW being involved in that particular castle. I urge the Minister of State to do everything he can to progress it. It is an awful shame to see the castle closed. We need to see the remedial works being done to bring it to a safe standard and, ultimately, reopened to the public. I welcome anything the Department or the OPW can do to progress that.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for his kind words. The OPW does good work right across the region and particularly in his constituency, as he has outlined. I get asked to take over this castle or this monument every day of the week, and I do not have an endless pot to do that. Galway County Council has reached out to the OPW and meetings have taken place, but I cannot say what further engagements have taken place at this time, but I will come back to the Deputy in due course. His colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has also raised this issue with me, as have other TDs in the constituency. I will continue to work with the Deputy. If we can work something out together, that is fine, but I cannot give him that commitment today.