Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the Minister. First, I thank him for his concise contribution. It is a measure of him. I have been following him and reading about him in the months since he took office and it is clear that he has a concise way and great clarity in what he does and says. In the short, concise, five-page document he presented to us there is a recurring theme, which I am delighted to see, of enhanced governance and new assurance structures. He will add five people to the board, over and above the Secretaries General. That is very good. It is all about governance, accountability and value for money.

We have had this debate previously in the Seanad and the Dáil when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in government, but some of it fell on deaf ears. Clearly, the Minister has had a second thought, and I welcome that. It is worth saying it. He has taken cognisance of the submissions that have been made as part of the review, he has talked to other people and he has seen what has happened to date. That is extremely important. Stronger governance is proposed in all this. We talk about ministerial colleagues and rigorously assessing the costs of the existing projects. That is good and I thank the Minister. I had prepared some notes and most of my focus was going to be on governance, delivery and the realisation of the vision and the plan. One can have all the plans one wishes, but if one does not have the finances in place as well as key indicators and somebody driving the project, one will not deliver.

What did we collectively set about in the NDP? There were national strategic objectives, which included growth. I do not like the concept of compact growth. Not all growth is compact. I do not like that word and I choose not to use it. The Minister's document refers to compact growth, but I prefer to use the word "growth". There is also reference to enhanced regional accessibility in its broadest sense, strengthening rural communities and economies, quality healthcare, childcare, education and training, stronger economic support for enterprise, innovation and skills and connectivity. Again, I use the word "connectivity" in its broader sense, which is connectivity in respect of IT, mobility and the like. There is also sustainability in terms of our use of environmental resources and protecting our environmental resources, enhancing our amenities and our heritage and, of course, the important issue which the Acting Chairperson referred to, and for which he is a great champion in this House, balanced regional development.

All that is good, positive and important. I took some time to read IBEC's submission to the review and some of the interesting comments it made. Chronic underinvestment in the west of Ireland is underestimated and undermines prospects for economic recovery. That is what IBEC says. Some people might ask who IBEC is. I value IBEC, its contribution and what it has to say, as I value many other contributions. IBEC went on to say in its submission to the mid-term review of the national development plan that the west region needs sustainability and an enhanced and more ambitious roadmap for its future. The Minister knows, I know and everyone else in this House knows that major investment is needed to make the west more resilient and more competitive. Sectors such as tourism, leisure and hospitality are particularly exposed in the west of Ireland. The Minister mentioned Brexit and Covid. We talked about Covid in the short term a few months ago. I am looking over at Senator Casey, who will know more than anyone else in this House about leisure and the impact not only of Brexit, in terms of people travelling to this country and trade between this country and Europe, but also now of this dreadful pandemic that has put an end to so many businesses in this country. We have the Covid downturn and the impact of Brexit on our economy. While we talk about it being short term, let us wake up, folks. This is not short term. It is not necessarily medium term. It is possibly long term. Certainly, its effects will be felt long term. That is important.

We also have the added problem of the downgrading of the western region by the EU to a region of transition. That is challenging in itself.

What needs to be done? We know we need transport. We know all the other issues. I will not talk in great detail about them. Part of the national development plan recent review of Government plans was to extend the plan to 2030, as the Minister said. That is very substantial and is very good news, but with that comes additional funding, additional resources and additional capacity, and that is something I want to hear more about today.

I also want to hear more about the public private partnerships. Why have we got a hang-up as to who builds houses, be they public, private or a synergy between both? Bring on public money and public investment but bring on private investment and private contributions too.

We need absolute clarity on the national development plan. If we are to bring on international financiers and bring inward investment into the country, we need to tap into our major international diaspora and people who want to come back and give back something. We need to ensure that all Departments and all agencies are tasked with the vision and the challenge to roll out what is an exciting national development plan. Senator Davitt talked earlier about local authorities. We have local plans and regional plans and this is our national development plan. Instil in us a pride. Let us be ambassadors for this plan.

There is the importance of governance, the roll-out of this plan and communication - local, regional, national and, for that matter, international. We have a vision. We have a plan. We will not agree with all of it but we will agree with most of it. Let us therefore unite, articulate and seek investment in that plan for our future. It is important we come on board. I thank the Minister, particularly for his sharing today the focus of delivery and of governance.