Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is even better. They will have two copies each.

I take on board what Senator Horkan said. He is right, but I am not surprised that the Minster of State should come in here as a Limerick-based Deputy and promote his projects in Limerick. I acknowledge that and fair play to him. I would do the same.

Before I go into the depth of the plan and analyse it, I want to flag two issues close to my heart involving an area where I live in Dún Laoghaire, namely, Cherrywood and the LIHAF. We have a scheme to build 8,000 houses in Cherrywood and we were informed by the county manager and some staff at a briefing the other day that there was now a potential shortfall of €75 million to get this project going. Cherrywood is a strategic development zone with the potential to develop 8,000 homes and we are still not sure about the Minister's intentions regarding the LIHAF. It would be helpful if the Minister of State asked the Minister if he could make his views known and publicly indicate his commitments regarding the LIHAF and also on the question of affordability. What is the deal in terms of the delivery of affordable houses in Cherrywood?

Second, the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire is in bits, so to speak. Successive Governments promised that a new hospital would be built on the site. Some months ago the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, came out to turn a sod for a new development of 120 beds, but that will not be an additional 120 beds. The plan is to build 120 beds in two or three wings and knock down the existing 120 beds. There will be no increased capacity. I have attended three official announcements of a new hospital for the National Rehabilitation Hospital in the past ten years but there will not be a new hospital. There will be a phase 1 and phase 2 of a development. We need to be clear as to whether this is phase 1, phase 2 or a case of double counting. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could revert to me on that. We are talking about new beds and a new hospital. The Government is aware of the issue because I raise it every few weeks here in the Seanad. Twelve beds were closed on 1 January 2017 and despite numerous promises by numerous Ministers in this House to the effect that they will be reopened, we got confirmation the other day that six of them remain closed over a year later, with hundreds of patients waiting in acute beds to get into this hospital. The Minister of State invited us to comment on local issues and I wanted to raise that one.

I fully support the national development plan. It is a strong and positive move. It is great when all the plans are put in one cover and key objectives are set to deliver on them. My understanding of the journey of this national planning framework is that we will have compact growth and enhanced regional accessibility. We will strengthen rural economics in communities. They are key objectives of this plan. We will have sustainable mobility. A strong support for enterprise, innovation and skills is clearly set out in the plan. There will be high quality international connectivity. There will be enhanced amenity and heritage; there is a very good section on amenity and heritage. There will be a transition to a low carbon and climate resilient society, which is a topical and appropriate measure to include in a plan, and we will have sustainable management of our wastewater and other environmental resources. That is key. The plan further sets out the objective of access to quality child care, education and health services. Those strategic objectives are set out clearly in the plan and I could not argue with any of them. I would have liked to have seen more included but that is what is in the plan, and it is all very positive.

In terms of the strategic investments and priorities tied up with the plan, having studied it in great depth it is my understanding that we will have a housing and sustainable urban development, rural development and increased enterprise skills and innovative capacity - that has to be positive. There will be investment in culture, heritage and sports as part of the investment priorities tied up in the plan. Importantly, and we have seen it again in recent days, there will be major investment in the water infrastructure, which is critical for this country.The plan also covers the national roads network, environmental and sustainable public transport. There is a specific section dealing with airports and ports and other sections dealing with climate change and education, health and child care. That is exceptionally positive. The plan is ambitious, perhaps too ambitious. I do not like to use the words "too ambitious", as I like us to be ambitious. I also like what the Minister of State mentioned in his presentation about public private partnerships. We want to get projects over the line. I have met many people in politics who have an ideology about who is delivering the infrastructure and the houses. Clearly, we want houses delivered because we have a housing crisis. We need infrastructure if we are to grow our economy. We need to plan for the future, for the expansion of our people and our communities. The plan is positive.

A key aspect of the plan will be the way in which we as politicians across all parties can keep track of the Government in terms of its delivery. It is all very well to draw up a plan but the money, resources and required skills and expertise must be in place to deliver it. That is an important element. We as politicians, and through our membership of relevant committees such as the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, of which I am a member, will have to hold the Government to account. That will be the key message with respect to the plan. We will have to follow these projects and ensure they are delivered. This plan is a positive and brave move by the Government to commit its key objectives to paper as it did with Rebuilding Ireland. Many people have issues with Rebuilding Ireland but it is a plan. It has had slippages but at least we have a plan on which to focus. We can bring the Minister back in and talk about why projects we said we would do are not happening and why the targets that have been set down have not been achieved. Any plan gives us focus, it draws attention to a particular issue. I warmly welcome and support this plan. However, I believe we will all be back here asking in months to come how it is being rolled out and delivered. That is the key task with respect to this plan on which we will measure the Government.