Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

There has been an unprecedented level of investment in all areas of infrastructure. However, I have a number of major concerns about the strategy. While I have no doubt that the Government and members of the Cabinet are loyal and fully committed to the aspirations and principles of the national spatial strategy, I stated when it was launched that there may have been a need for legislation or a directive, at the very least, to encourage all arms of State — semi-State bodies and all agencies that are State controlled or funded — to buy into those aspirations and principles before taking any action. I am satisfied that this has not happened. It would be a great shame if such a good plan failed because everyone did not sing from the same hymn sheet. The national spatial strategy should be the prime directive for every State organisation and local authority as they plan for the future. I do not believe this is happening.

While I paid tribute to Iarnród Éireann earlier, I must now accuse it of ignoring the spatial strategy. I refer to the fact that in Sligo, which is a gateway city, a freight yard and all the infrastructure attaching thereto is being closed by Iarnród Éireann. It is inconceivable that the company should set out to close a facility such as this in a gateway city, the population of which is expected to increase under the plan by some 50,000 during the next 30 years. This does not make sense. Iarnród Éireann will state that it closed the yard for commercial reasons. I do not know who is the head of marketing at the company but he or she need only visit any roundabout on the N4, from the M50 to Carraroe in Sligo, to see the approximately 100 container trucks per hour that pass by. Issues surrounding public safety and congestion arise as a result. The head of marketing at Iarnród Éireann should stand at one of the roundabouts to which I refer and take down details of the hauliers or the companies transporting these goods by road instead of rail and target a marketing campaign at them. Perhaps then there would be no need to close freight yards.

Bord Gáis, contrary to the aspirations and principles of the spatial strategy, is completely ignoring the entire north-west region. At a recent meeting of the relevant joint committee, the chief executive of the company proudly declared how well things are going and that under the Gas Acts and its commercial mandate, it has no intention or plans to bring the gas network to the north-west. That is unacceptable.

In general terms, the commercial mandate in the semi-State sector supersedes all aspirations in the national spatial strategy. Board members are more concerned with ensuring that the bottom line remains balanced during their tenure. We should adopt a more visionary approach in terms of what might happen in the future. If we invest in line with the national spatial strategy and create capacity before demand, then the demand will follow and we will reap the rewards. Whatever investment we make now, it will represent value for money in time.

I would like a directive to go to all arms of the State to ensure they take account not only of the bottom line and the commercial mandate but of the national spatial strategy before they act on the closure, cancellation or planning of anything for the future. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, when he was here, alluded to the speech in this House last week by the Minister for Finance in which he said he would look at any project that any region proposed, be it infrastructure development or whatever, provided that it made economic sense. However, if we are always going to take the cost-benefit analysis as the bottom line we can close the door on the north west of Ireland, indeed north of a line from Dublin to Galway and east of the Dublin-Belfast corridor. The door will be closed on the west of Ireland unless we are prepared to put in the capacity before the demand materialises. It is a chicken and egg situation.

In today's Irish Independent there is a report that the Government is considering the construction of an outer ring road linking Drogheda, Navan and towns towards Naas. If that is the way we are now thinking, it is an admission and acceptance of the Central Statistics Office prediction of 1 million more people in the country in the next 20 years, with 80% of them living in the greater Dublin area. We are accepting failure now by saying, "Let us build this outer ring road". I am not saying it should not be built, but I believe we should be investing more in the gateways and hubs, in trying to achieve our targets.

If there is an extra 1 million people in the country by 2020 and they want to be in the greater Dublin area, let us set a target to put the infrastructure in place in the other gateways and hubs to try to locate 400,000 or 500,000 of them to the other areas. Otherwise, we are admitting defeat. In another ten years, where will the ring road be? Will it take in Dundalk and Mullingar and will it be further out ten years after that? We need to be more strategic and not reacting to the inevitable. We should plan and be proactive about what we could achieve. In many ways the national spatial strategy could end up on a shelf with many other plans that have never achieved their potential. The strategy has massive potential and I want it to be a success.

In terms of the north west, it is not going to be economically viable, in the NRA's terms, to build a motorway to Sligo. The M4 has now become the M4-M6 and we currently have a great road to Sligo. However, we should be planning these routeways. The board of directors of Bord Gáis should have an aspiration to have gas in Letterkenny. If a subvention is required, that is a matter for the Government. The Houses of the Oireachtas will debate the issue and put the relevant subvention in place. EU permission will be required and it should be sought. There is no university or radiotherapy unit north of a line between Dublin and Galway. Similarly, there are many other facilities which do not exist north of that line and if we are serious about the spatial spread of people and opportunities, as the national spatial strategy aspires to be, then we will have to be speculative to the extent that capacity must be created before demand. I first heard that argument, capacity before demand, from the former Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, at a conference in Limerick on the national spatial strategy. I cannot repeat it often enough.

I appeal for either legislation or a clear directive in this area. I ask that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government liaise with the Department of Finance in reviewing the various taxation schemes that may be put in place. I hope that the urban and rural renewal schemes are extended for particular areas north of the Dublin to Galway line because there is still much scope for them to lead development. I very much appreciate the Minister of State's reference to Sligo. I cannot help thinking this has been for my benefit, because I have been so vocal in this regard in the House.

There have been enormous benefits so far from the national spatial strategy. These have, for the most part, been privately led, and Sligo is an example, because of the perception and the expectation that central Government will invest more in the critical infrastructure of these areas, as well as their linkages to Dublin and the other hubs and gateways throughout the country. I hope the Minister of State will take some of these points on board.