Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for being with us today. This is an incredible commitment by the Government which will revolutionise planning and development across the country. It has been in preparation for four years and I again compliment the Minister, the Ministers of State and their team in the Department. It is one national planning statement, three regional assemblies, 31 local authority development plans, and area plans. This is what it breaks down to.

I briefly referred to this yesterday, but I will bring to the Minister's attention a point about the regional assemblies and regional spatial and economic strategies, RSES. In the area covered by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, NWRA, Athlone is a growth centre. What is wonderful about the development plan and the framework is that it is being linked to the census, which is crucial. We are looking at a planned population growth from 20,000 people to 30,000 people in Athlone. That area is between the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. Ballinasloe and Roscommon are key towns. Making Roscommon and Galway fantastic places to have a home, to live and to work is our priority. We want to ensure that we have more people living in the west. That means more people in our schools and more students choosing our colleges and working in companies and businesses in the west of Ireland. Having all of this, however, and fighting for homes, classrooms, the construction of technological universities at TUS in Athlone and the Atlantic Technological University in Galway and Mountbellew, and the University of Galway, requires huge amounts of funding. It also supports where we want to see growth in this area. It cannot be the case that the whole population of Ireland is going to be based within an hour's travel of Dublin city centre. That cannot be the case. Unless we see investment coming into our area in the west, this will always be the case.