Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. The west of Ireland is a wonderful place to live and County Galway and city is a wonderful place to live. I would like to concentrate on Galway City and suburbs. We have huge positives in Galway City and the suburbs, including the National University of Ireland, Galway; the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, and the exciting plans for a technology university in conjunction with Sligo and Letterkenny institutes of technology; a thriving foreign direct investment, FDI, sector; in normal times a thriving and exciting night life; and our cultural arts sector with its arts festival, the Druid Theatre Company and Macnas. In sport we have the Galway racing festival. We have Connacht Rugby and its recent plans, including €20 million that I helped secure last year.There is Galway United FC with Pearse Stadium at the heart of GAA in Galway. There is dog racing, Galway Bay and Lough Corrib. We have a rail link to the heart of the city with a motorway to Dublin and Limerick, going through Tuam, giving access to Shannon Airport, Dublin Airport and Ireland West Airport in Knock.

Like any city and its suburbs, we have challenges with traffic, housing, wastewater, water and amenities. We have many plans submitted such as the Galway city ring road plans which are with An Bord Pleanála. There are exciting applications under the urban and rural regeneration development funds, as well as for projects such as the Martin roundabout upgrade and access to Ardaun, a potential growth area in the city, a rail passing bay in Oranmore and a greenway over the Corrib railway viaducts. There are also various public transport initiatives in the city to improve walking and cycling, including the development of 11 city centre cycle routes, the Dublin Road bus corridor, the Moycullen to city greenway, the Ceannt Station upgrade and a Barna to city greenway.

We have a number of positives and potential projects or initiatives, including the Galway Airport site which is jointly owned by the city and county councils. There are regeneration projects, including at Ceannt Station, the docks and Headford Road. We have a large number of IDA Ireland lands, including 240 ha in Athenry and 80 ha in Oranmore. We have a plan for Ardaun, identified as the main growth area in Galway city and county. We have the Athenry-Oranmore economic corridor.

The national development plan and Project Ireland 2040 have identified Galway city's suburbs as a growth area. The 2016 population of Galway city was 80,000 people. By 2040, projected increases predict that the population will be at 120,000 people.

We all preach balanced regional development and moving the focus and growth from the Dublin and Leinster areas and spreading it around to different cities in the country. One major limitation on reaching that target in Galway is wastewater treatment. There is the much talked about and long-awaited plan for a Galway east main drainage wastewater treatment plant. This plant would encompass Athenry, Oranmore, the east of the city and the Ardaun area, identified by the Department, in conjunction with the city and county councils, as the growth area for our county.

We need the Department to focus on pushing this plan with Irish Water and the local authorities to progress it. It is absolutely vital. Not only will it allow growth in that area, but it will also reduce pressure on the Mutton Island facility which is the main wastewater treatment plant in the city. It will allow the city area to develop, as well as reducing pressure on areas such as Barna and Knocknacarra. It is badly needed in terms of housing. We cannot talk about housing unless sufficient wastewater treatment is in place. We need action and progress on this.