Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion from my colleague, Senator Kyne. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is important in a motion that is all about investment that it is not just investment into the major cities but into the regions.That is important to ensure connectivity and to ensure all corners of the country have access to our capital and major cities. In the past couple of days, the NTA announced extra funding and extra routes throughout the country. A number of these routes are to be in my county. There are to be extra routes through the rural regions connecting into other towns outside of our county, namely, Athlone and Cavan. Some routes are also to become more frequent. That infrastructure funding is positive. I served on the committee for rural transport in Longford and Westmeath for a number of years and I have seen the benefits of it. That is an area that should be strengthened. There should be more routes in those local areas, connecting all the various towns and villages within our county.

I have been involved with the greenway project for many years, since funding was first sought to develop the Royal Canal greenway. This started with a section from Longford town to Cloondara on the River Shannon. This ultimately meant all the local authorities coming together to develop what will be the longest greenway in the country when we get it between Maynooth and Spencer Dock. This can only be a positive and a driver for economic activity within our county.

An upgrade of the rail line from Mullingar to Dublin is mentioned in the NDP. I mentioned this at the time and asked for it to be looked at. The commuter rail route to Dublin starts from Longford but an upgrade to the line from Longford has not been included. I ask that this be considered and that the line between Mullingar and Longford be included in that review because, as the Minister of State knows, people are moving further away from Dublin as a result of remote working. If they are going to be travelling to Dublin, a good high-speed service needs to be available to them.

Senator McGahon mentioned the key infrastructure of charging points. I fully agree with him. We need to roll out points in every village. If we are going to get people to invest and buy electric cars, we need that infrastructure in place.

Safe routes to school are mentioned in our motion and are one of the most positive measures brought forward for many years. As far as I can remember, there have been more than 900 applications from schools. I have been contacted by a large number of schools that missed the deadline for application. I ask that the scheme be opened up again to allow schools to apply. It will take a number of years for the routes to be funded but the schools would at least know that they will get their project done at some stage in the future.

When speaking about funding being allocated in a 2:1 ratio between public transport and roads, it would be remiss of me not to highlight the issue of the N4. Looking at a map of Ireland, it is the one missing link as regards connectivity to Dublin and other national routes. I refer to the Sligo route, which has dual carriageway status to Mullingar. Work has been done on the N5 from Castlebar towards Longford and from Sligo back but there is a missing link in between, the section between Mullingar and Rooskey. I ask that this missing link in the national network be prioritised as we proceed on that 2:1 basis.