Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----benefit from capital investment. A decision has finally been taken in the mid-western region on existing and additional bed capacity in University Hospital Limerick. Limerick Institute of Technology, LIT, and the University of Limerick, UL, are being allowed to develop new facilities, such as engineering facilities in LIT. The Shannon Foynes Port Company, the only strategic port of national importance on the west coast, will be able to extend its capacity. Wide-bodied hangers are being constructed at Shannon Airport. New students will enter UL with additional sports facilities and student recreation areas. Anybody who has ever had reason to travel to Limerick, Tralee or Killarney will know the bottlenecks in Adare, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale. The N21 is finally going to deal with them. There will also be improvements in other road infrastructure in the region. That is only one example of one region. There are other regions in the country, whether in the south, east or north west, where specific projects can also be identified.

The linkages needed on the Atlantic corridor are one of the key fundamental cornerstones of this development plan. That is why the Government committed to the completion of the N20 early in the lifetime of this plan. It has long been spoken about and there are Senators in this House from the southern region, including Cork, and from the west.

We know counterbalance is badly needed between Dublin and the west coast. The conurbation of Dublin can only be balanced if Galway, Limerick and Cork are brought closer together. We already have the motorway link from Limerick to Galway. Now we are in the situation where we are able to provide the funding and green light for planning to proceed on the M20 from Limerick to Cork. This will represent €900 million or thereabouts. There will be little change out of €1 billion. That is proof, if any was needed, of the Government's investment in a rural area in the mid-west and in the south.

Support for rural areas is an issue that has often been raised in the Seanad and in the other House. This plan includes specific targets and specific programmes for investment in a range of areas, including broadband, roads, tourism and in agriculture. By 2020, on the basis of the plan we have in situfor the connection to broadband, we will have 90% coverage of premises to high speed broadband. That is one of the key drivers and enablers for the development of the rural economy and I know there are many Senators here this evening from rural areas. I want to thank those Senators who have turned up to engage in this debate because I know the importance that they place on it. The plan will also allow other areas of the east to develop as counterbalances to Dublin itself.

I mentioned the risk factors that are there. This plan will be predicted on economic factors. I know Senators have debated on many occasions the issue of Brexit and the all-island economy. The Government, through the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister for Finance, has been very clear that in relation to Brexit the national development plan will allow for better quality infrastructure to mitigate against the effects. Previously, we have seen the Government's commitment to this, particularly in the north west and the Border region. Investment particularly relevant in the context of Brexit will include the areas of the integrated transport network, energy and communications and new resources for tourism development. I am a former Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport so I know how important the development of tourism is, particularly given the exposure to Brexit, and now that we have growing numbers of people working in that sector. It is close on 10% of the total number of people who work in Ireland, supporting communities and economies across the country.

I refer also to supporting Brexit-exposed firms to diversify into international markets. The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, is keen through her agencies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, to drive that and I have seen that at first hand overseas. We also have for the first time a new disruptive technology fund. We are all becoming more aware of disruptive technologies in a very challenging environment for the economy and for exporters in particular, but also for the domestic economy. The fund will allow access to supports not there heretofore.

Recently, as Senators will be aware, there has been some dialogue and conversation in respect of the use and roll out of the public private partnership, PPP, model. The completion of the review into the PPPs will be published shortly. PPPs will continue to form a part of the delivery of key infrastructure. Over many years, we have seen that they have been an effective procurement option. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for procurement. Yes, there have been challenges. As a Government, we are committed to resolving those. However, we are also committed to driving the clear principles of value for money as well as project delivery.

The plan builds on previous reforms, including the public spending code and the establishment of the Office of Government Procurement. As I mentioned previously both here and in the other House, I have further ambition in respect of the Office of Government Procurement. Any Member of the Houses who has served on the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach or on the Committee of Public Accounts, any Member of the Dáil or anyone reading the Comptroller and Auditor General's report would see clearly that we have continuing issues in relation to public procurement and public governance. This is one of the areas into which the Office of Government Procurement is going to have to try to delve more and it is my intention, as Minister of State, to push that agenda. We are going to have many and competing demands in the area of procurement now that we have in excess of €116 billion to spend over ten years. We want to make sure we do it right. We want to make sure it is delivered to the areas to which it needs to be delivered and that we make sure we have proper project appraisal, delivery and management.Having come from the engineering section of a private sector company, I know that product and project delivery and schedule adherence is something to which the public service has to become more attuned. However, I know the public service is up for that through the Office of Government Procurement and through the public spending codes.

We also need to continue the implementation of the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, assessment carried out in 2017. We need, in particular, to continue to drive the infrastructure project steering group that will be established in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is one thing having a plan but it is another making sure we continue the delivery. We will monitor that delivery. That will be done on a centralised basis through the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and also through other Departments drawing down funding, whether it is education, health, transport or whatever, or State agencies. We need to make sure monitor delivery and value for money from the centre. Ultimately, what is important here is that we deliver the projects but that we have regard to value for money in respect of the taxes that have been collected from the people which allow us to spend this money.There is a rural and urban element and the sum of €4 billion is split on a 2:1 basis. Taking the population of the country, it will be seen that the expenditure element is stacked in favour of rural areas, and rightly so. By rural I mean small towns and villages.

As Senators will know, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, is at a new Department. It is now up and running and is delivering on schemes that this House and the Lower House have constantly demanded. We now have a fund worth €1 billion. The Minister for Rural and Community Development and his officials are considering projects and methodologies for the expenditure of that money. I encourage the Senators to liaise directly with him because he is open to hearing ideas from all of us, in particular from rural areas, on how to stem the tide of people leaving towns and villages. Will shops be reopened in the future? I do not know. I come from a rural area and I know that we will have rural regeneration if one or two more families decide to live on every street in villages in the country. One of the areas that I have spoken to him about is rural dereliction and the possibility of providing direct or indirect supports for local authorities or property owners. The measure would address rural dereliction, make places more attractive to people and, as a result, services in the commercial and private worlds would follow. It is important to point out that there is a regeneration fund for urban development which can also be used for rural development.

All I wanted to do in this debate was to share with Senators my thoughts as Minister of State and, more importantly, hear what types of projects they would like to be delivered. In terms of everything that is committed by way of spending that is already guaranteed to be delivered to particular projects, there will be elements of discretion within individual Departments. Interestingly, over recent weeks, there has been some noise about the delivery and publication of the national development plan. However, I have yet to hear anybody say that he or she did not like a particular project. Everybody agrees with having a national development plan. Some people have suggested that had we followed those people's economic policies for the past five years, which consisted of telling the European Union to take its money and shove it in their you know where, we would have reached the position that we enjoy today, but that is not true. We would not have €116 billion to spend over ten years. I hope that the Seanad will do what it has always done any time that I have been here and engage constructively and proactively to see how things can be improved upon. If a Senator wants to say he or she does not like something, then please suggest an alternative project and what roads and hospital extensions should be removed from the plan. Everything in the plan has come by way of parliamentary input, public consultation and direct input by individual Departments. The plan has not been concocted on the basis of no need. The plan is based on very clear population growth projections supplied by the Central Statistics Office, CSO. It also has very clear and committed growth rates for our economic situation supplied by the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The documents are costed and balanced in terms of where we believe the greatest level of need will be from an infrastructural point of view.

The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, has outlined the national planning framework. I am sure there will be opportunities in the House to consider the national planning framework from a planning point of view. From the point of view of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the capital envelope that we have available to us at the moment is one that is only available due to the sacrifices that were made by the people of Ireland, together with the economic policies that were pursued over the past six to seven years, in particular, and which have allowed us to balance our books, have a balanced budget and, more importantly, have the ability to invest in capital. The population of Ireland is growing and will increase by 500,000 more people. We will also have 300,000 more people at work. This year we will have the greatest number of people ever at work in Ireland. I hope we will reach full employment this year. We were told by all of the naysayers that full employment would never happen, that we would need a double bailout, that we should leave the euro, wind up the banks and tell everyone in Europe to go to hell on a donkey. If we had done that, where would we be now? We probably would be in an invidious position compared with some other countries that went into a bailout situation like us. They now look at Ireland with envy and wonder how we managed to have the largest capital envelope, based on the number of people who live here, of any EU or eurozone country. We have such success because the people of Ireland made sacrifices. The communities here that were starved of investment over the past ten years now need investment. The Taoiseach has often referred to that decade as the lost decade.

I am sure that the Acting Chairman and all of the Senators have digested the plan and will agree that the plan has content for the whole country. We want to see the country developed as a whole. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to rear a family, have a home and job in their local area, and provide that opportunity for themselves and future generations. That is what this plan and the national planning framework are about. I look forward to hearing suggestions and remarks from Senators. I commend the plan to the House and thank everyone for their forbearance.