Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. I am delighted to have this opportunity to make a few points on this issue. The many representatives from the BMW region in the House have been seeking this debate for some time.

I welcome the Minister's speech and broadly agree with its main thrust, although I have some concerns about aspects thereof. We in the BMW region do not wish to have anything at the expense of people in any other region. We acknowledge wholeheartedly that there has been an unprecedented level of funding and improvement in the region in recent years. However, we are not much closer to closing the gap, which we would all hope to achieve at some stage in terms of balanced regional development between the BMW region and other regions. The gap still exists because improvements in the southern and eastern region are not in proportion to improvements in our region.

I want to change the focus slightly. The statistics that make the BMW region look as well as it does in certain respects result predominantly from the success of Galway and the south-east midlands, rather than the rest of the country. There is a line, not one I drew but which has been drawn by Departments, between Dublin and Galway. We have had an underspend of almost 40% on targets to date. That money is available and it is a disgrace that it has not been not spent. There can be no justification for that. I do not understand the reason for that and I call on the Minister, the cross-departmental team on infrastructure and the officials in the Department to put in place a plan to get that project up to speed as a matter of the utmost urgency.

When Departments examine the question of the infrastructure required in the west, they consistently fail to take account of the historic deficiencies in infrastructure in terms of building roads and so on. That must be done. The per capita scenario in terms of expenditure will not stack up in that region and will become worse unless we are prepared to invest capital in infrastructure in the area and achieve one of the primary objectives of the national spatial strategy, namely, to create capacity before demand. If we do not have the capacity, we will not have the demand. Seán Dorgan of the IDA has consistently pointed out that no level of IDA grant aid to foreign direct investors will compensate for a deficient or weak infrastructure. That continues to be the case.

I want to deal with a number of issues concerning roads. North of a line from Dublin to Galway we have the N4 and the N2 heading north. Neither of these is included in the national development plan as an inter-urban routes, despite the fact that these are trans-European networks according to the EU Commission. For example, while the N4 heading north west is a particularly good road at present, it is not earmarked for upgrading to dual carriageway or motorway status as would be the case in respect of roads serving other centres. There can be no excuse for that. In terms of drawing up a template for road improvements in the future, the national roads needs study of 1988 is the one that applies. That was put together by the National Roads Authority using historical vehicle movements, which are completely out of date in today's context.

In terms of energy requirements, we have heard about the problems in south-west Donegal. Senator O'Toole mentioned An Taisce which played a major role in blocking plans by the ESB to bring in a 220 kV line which is much needed and, as a result, no energy-dependent industry can locate there at this stage. We were pleased in Sligo that we made progress with our 220 kV line but there are other areas in the region that must be dealt with.

It is ironic that we have such reserves of gas off the west coast but we will not receive any benefit from them according to the CEO of Bord Gáis, who recently said that while everything was going well, there was a commercial mandate on the company and there were no plans to extend the network to the north west. I have a letter dated 21 March 2001 in which the then Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise stated that the Government had decided to extend the gas network to the north west and that the necessary arrangements would put in place as quickly as possible. I have no doubt that the Government is committed to extending the network to the north west but I would like the see the management of Bord Gáis making the necessary arrangements.