Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. We appreciate his taking the time to come and discuss with us the review of the national development plan. It is good that the Minister is looking to the future to ensure we are sufficiently prepared for transition to a post-Covid-19 world. That is certainly something we are all looking forward to.

In his few words at the start, the Minister emphasised that he wanted to see a national development plan that was forward looking and ambitious, and to realise opportunities in rural Ireland. I am taking rural Ireland to mean outside Dublin. All too often, counties like my county of Kildare suffer because they are not seen as part of rural Ireland but as part of the Dublin's commuter belt. Yet, we have many challenges in which we need to have direct investment, not least broadband and public transport.

When one talks about the national development plan being an important economic developer and stimulus, as well as providing confidence, it also gives hope to people. While we face this pandemic and can only travel within 5 km radius, except for essential purposes, it gives a sense of renewed purpose when our citizens recognise that Government understands what we are all going through and that good thought and investment is being put into what will make our world a better place post Covid-19.

Important also in what the Minister said is that there will be a thorough assessment regarding projects and assessment of costs in making sure they are realistic and absolutely up to date. All too often in the past, we have gotten weary of projects overrunning both on budget and time. The tweaks the Minister is bringing into the national development are very welcome.

There is no doubt that investing in infrastructure is at the heart of providing a better quality of life for all our people and ensuring they have the opportunity to live sustainably within all our communities. There are lessons to be learned from what we have undergone over the last 12 months in terms of investment in our recreational facilities to ensure we all have appropriate parks and green space and, of course, children's playgrounds, which are always necessary in society but particularly so now.

Well-targeted investment has the power to be transformational for all of society. Again, it is essential we get value for money and go back to the tweaks the Minister is bringing in to ensure the record budget of more than €10 billion he has committed to over 2021, which is quite incredible, is well-invested. It is not just about the number of euro that are invested, but it is about making sure we get absolute value for money. I thank the Minister for giving the public the opportunity to have its say on the NDP by way of the consultation process. I understand he will bring forward the results of that consultation in the spring. I took the opportunity to make a submission because, as I mentioned, we have many challenges in County Kildare, particularly in the town in which I live. Newbridge is the commercial heart of south Kildare and there has been a steady pace of development in regard to housing, etc. However, that has led to rapid development and congestion in some places and underdevelopment in others. We must ensure that services are maintained and we also need to encourage continuous investment and growth. Newbridge had an overall increase in population of 5.5% from 2011 to 2016, yet we have had absolutely no investment in our infrastructure.

We were very disappointed last week when the application for the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, funding for a second bridge in Newbridge was turned down. There is only one bridge in the town, as the Minister knows from his visits there with me. There are six schools in Newbridge, with more than 4,000 students, and most of them are located very close to the bridge. This causes huge congestion at certain points during the day. It is absolutely essential that we get funding for a second bridge and then a third bridge. We also need to have safe walkways and cycleways for all the students coming to school. I include the small village of Athgarvan. There is no secondary school there and the young people living in the village have to come to Newbridge for school. There is no footpath between the two centres.

Newbridge has no community centre, which is something that should be accessible to everybody in every town. There is a monastery for sale in Newbridge and I hope we will have the opportunity to secure funding that would support the purchase of that building for a community centre. The continued funding for blueway and greenway facilities is very important. An extension of the sewerage schemes in Rathangan, Kilcullen and Allenwood South is hugely important.

Education provision also comes under the NDP. In this regard, I draw the Minister's attention to the need for a new secondary school in Newbridge and a replacement for Coláiste Íosagáin in Portarlington.