Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson and it is nice to see her in the Chair.

I welcome the Minister. The speech has been interesting and I want to address it as much as I can in the few minutes that I have got. Let us start with the first point. It is good that he is examining the level of public investment and whether it needs to be adjusted. Sinn Féin is clearly of the view that investment needs to be significantly adjusted. It needs to be adjusted because the current targets are just not strong or ambitious enough. As has been said earlier, we are in a unique time in terms of being able to borrow at extremely low levels of interest, at zero and minus interest rates, and there is so much to be done. As the Minister will know, historically we have had very poor levels of infrastructure and very poor levels of investment over decades so now is the opportunity and the time to change that.

I would reference housing. At the minute, our target is 10,000 social housing units but that is not enough. The Minister knows that 10,000 units will not solve the crisis so we need to up our expenditure significantly. I would also cite healthcare because we know that the Sláintecare report, which all parties agreed on, is not going to be achieved within the initial ten-year timeframe because of underinvestment. So the good news is that it is in the Minister's power to address that and I sincerely hope he does so. I want to hone in on what Senator Higgins said, and I welcome her Bill which will be introduced on Friday. She will have Sinn Féin's full support because when we are talking about the national development plan a key point is how we use public procurement. Unfortunately, it has been used in far too narrow a way for far too long. The Netherlands is an excellent example. Last Friday, Sinn Féin launched our own community wealth building policy, which is very much based around the issue of public procurement also but where we do public procurement differently and get anchor institutions working locally and nationally to work together to ensure that more of the wealth is retained within communities. It is a different way of doing public procurement. It also actively encourages the development of co-operatives, particularly worker co-operatives. This has been tried and tested and shown to work in Preston, Ayrshire and in parts of the United States. It is a new way of looking at spending public money in a way that benefits people as opposed to the money being vacuumed out of the local economy. I urge the Minister to look at our policy document, which was launched last Friday. It is a new way of doing business. It is practical, is tested and it works.

I need to talk to the Minister about regional balance and, in particular, about Limerick, where I am from. When this initial development plan was launched the Chamber of Commerce in Limerick said it was a huge missed opportunity and one that would be regretted for generations to come. It particularly cited the failure to look at Shannon Airport as a means of rebalancing our economy. The Minister will know that Dublin currently accounts for 43% of our GDP so we know that current policies in terms of regional balance have failed. We know that policies right up to the Government that the Minister's party supported until last year did not address the issue. Now is the Minister's opportunity to address it. It will not be addressed without a substantial shift in funding. It will not be addressed without ambition and in Limerick, we are crying out for ambition. It is interesting that the head of Irish Rail told us that Limerick is uniquely placed for a light urban rail system because all the tracks are still owned by Irish Rail. That is not the case in most cities but we still have them. Sinn Féin has been championing light rail in Limerick for ten years. No one else has bought into that proposal. I ask the Minister to look at it again. We know that the number of cars in Limerick are projected to double between now and 2050. That will create chaos but not if we invest properly in public transport. The opportunity is there. To date, unfortunately, the political will or the ambition have not been there. It lies again in the hands of the Minister and I ask him to actively look at that opportunity.

I would like an update on the Foynes rail project. It is good that it is in the plan. It was due to be completed by 2022 but clearly that will not be the case. I ask the Minister for an update on when that rail link is likely to be completed. It is a very ambitious rail link that will be good for our communities, not just in terms of the port but in terms of potential commuter lines working their way back into the city also.

I call on the Minister to be ambitious. My concern is that there are two very conservative parties at the heart of this Government. Already, we heard the Tánaiste last week reference the worries about inflation. There is no inflation. Economists are telling us this is the best time to be ambitious, to borrow and to address that lack of investment that has gone on for decades in terms of capital and public infrastructure. The Minister has only one opportunity to get this right. What we are looking for, as he reviews this plan, is a huge leap in ambition and investment. That regional balance is key.

I will cite one other issue that I have heard others mention in this Chamber mention previously, namely, a rail spur to Shannon Airport, which was mentioned back in the 1990s. I believe the Minister's colleague, Mary O'Rourke, initially looked at it in the 1990s. If we are serious about changing the fact that nine out of ten planes fly from Dublin - thankfully, they will start flying again - we have to build the infrastructure across the west of Ireland. One of the best ways to enhance Shannon is to build that rail spur, which has been discussed for decades. It needs to be done.

I am disappointed that, to date, there has been a lack of detail around the way that investment in public transport will be rolled out over the coming years. I hope that in the revamped national development plan we will see that detail, ambition and a sea change in terms of the current projected investment because there is not enough at the moment. As it stands, it will not address housing. It will not address the need to build a national health service. It is in the Minister's hands. I call on him to do that, come back with ambition, look at that regional balance in particular and give us the ambition we deserve in Limerick city in terms of public transport, infrastructure and investment.