James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the FSU's call for the right of workers to disconnect their emails and phones when they finish their working day. In my work as a doctor, I see the amount of work related stress that is now presenting itself in many of my patients. I hope Government will listen and take on board what has been said, which seems to me to be an obvious and natural right.

The town of Balbriggan has 25,000 people in it, of whom more than 8,000 are children, making it the youngest town in Ireland. The local population, in conjunction with Fingal County Council, has formulated a plan for the future development of Balbriggan, called Our Balbriggan,. The plan has the potential to transform the town into the sort of place in which we would all like to live. It has fantastic natural assets, including a beach, and it has connectivity to Dublin through the rail network with plans to improve the service by electrifying the line. There is access to the M1 and it lies in the economic corridor between Dublin and Belfast. It has obvious potential for more development in terms of jobs, but we want to see its potential as a prime place to live being developed. This plan has a price tag of €20 million. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government is reopening the urban regeneration fund, and I expect Fingal County Council to lodge an application when it opens. I invite the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to come out and see the plan for himself and to see Balbriggan and its phenomenal natural assets. He would see how much better it would be as a place in which to live if it got the infrastructure support which this plan envisages.