Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and for his work on the development of this comprehensive plan. While I welcome his statement that this is all about delivery, it is also about ensuring value for money. One of the problems with many major public projects is that the public accept the need for them but ask who is watching their budgets. The national children's hospital obviously springs to mind in that regard. I welcome the Minister's assurances that he is putting in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure we do not continue to have the kind of difficulties we had with the national children's hospital. The governance structure is essential.

The moves the Government is making to provide a little more certainty on planning times with An Bord Pleanála will assist. In the case of major capital projects, whether public or private, the time An Bord Pleanála takes to make its decisions is completely unacceptable. It is not about what the decision is but the time factor involved.

I welcome the Minister's statement that this is a plan to deal with the digital and green transition. None of us can really contemplate what the world will look like as a result of the convergence of new technologies at the end of this decade. Transport infrastructure will probably involve hydrogen-powered automated cars. We will have an education system that will make increased use of augmented and virtual reality. It is estimated that up to 65% of jobs will either be made redundant or substantially changed because of automation, new technologies and machine learning. It is essential that this plan prepares us for that radically different world. The plan includes a significant element of upskilling and reskilling to assist us in meeting those opportunities and challenges. We also have to be mindful of our research capacity so that Ireland can play a leading role in solving some of the global problems we face.

I welcome the clear commitment in the plan to ensure that every school is modern and digitally enabled and the use of digital technology, teaching, learning and assessment will be embedded. There is a significant strategy on higher and further education and I welcome the particular focus on the new technological universities and the contribution they will make in upskilling and reskilling us for this new world. I particularly welcome the clear commitment on the technological university for the south east, with the expansion of the footprint of Waterford Institute of Technology as well as a campus in Wexford. Investment in cutting edge research has to be tied to that. The Government established the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science not as an administrative Department but to drive research and prepare Irish society. It is important that it have a key role within the NDP.

I hope the emphasis placed on cybersecurity in the plan is not lost. I was conscious the Minister mentioned that the €10 billion allocated in 2020 was the largest sum for capital expenditure ever announced by a Government. While that is welcome, last week Grant Thornton estimated that cybercrime cost Irish business €9.6 billion in 2020. This year, we saw the largest cyberattack ever on a health service anywhere in the world. In response to a Commencement matter last week, the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, informed me that the ICT repairs alone had cost the State €37.5 million to date. This does not include the costs of delays to appointments and other disruption in the health service. Our infrastructure will face further cyberattacks in the future. This is an issue of national defence and security and, as such, it is right that it is placed at the heart of the NDP. The plan places considerable emphasis on the National Cyber Security Centre and commits to increasing the centre's staff from 25 to 70 over a five-year period.I respectfully suggest that this number will be an underestimate in terms of the expectation of that centre. Right across the Government, with all elements of infrastructure, we have got to ensure that the infrastructure is safe because there is no reason to think that were a malign state actor to decide it has a problem with the way Ireland voted in the UN Security Council on an issue, it would not decide to look at attacking some of our infrastructure. Consequently, we have got to ensure that anything we create is as resilient as possible against that.

It is important, because often they are overlooked and the Minister mentioned the investment in arts and culture, to welcome the fact that our national cultural institutions are going to be a key part of our statement of Ireland as a society. There is a clear commitment within the document to this matter.

Finally, I want to turn, as do most people, to the transport sector. I specifically want to look at the key importance of Rosslare Europort. We know that in the first nine months of this year alone, continental European trade volumes between Rosslare and continental Europe are up 378%. This is where one talks about events. That figure can be directly traced to Brexit but it was how Rosslare was able to respond to that. Thirty weekly services now operate between Rosslare and continental Europe. Our ports had to be prepared for Brexit and what happened there. We have finally recognised the jewel that is Rosslare Europort. It is the main Irish port for roll-on, roll-off traffic. One thing that is key for that activity is entry in and out of the port and, therefore, we need the M11 motorway to be completed. The project is not just regionally important; it is now of national significance in a post-Brexit scenario. The project will also alleviate all of the villages from Oilgate and so on down to Rosslare. It is essential that the M11 project is prioritised.

I thank the Minister for his work. The key challenge is around delivery but I am quite confident that he will lead that.