Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)

Mar aon leis na Seanadóirí eile, gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as teacht isteach tráthnóna inniu chun forbairt chothrom sna réigiúin ar fad a phlé linn. Tá sé níos tábhachtaí i réigiúin an deiscirt, an iarthair agus an tuaiscirt. Tá an méid céanna ráite ag an-chuid Seanadóirí go dtí seo. Like so many other Senators, I will address disproportionate regional investment. The disproportionate regional investment in respect of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, the Southern Regional Assembly and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly has already been cited by Senators Kyne, Murphy and Tully. Even though it is not my region, I attended the briefing from the Northern and Western Regional Assembly last week and found it very informative. If we are to be serious about the commitments made under the national planning framework and Project Ireland 2040, we need to invest disproportionately, as Senator Blaney indicated when he spoke about positive discrimination. We need real affirmative action to take place to right the imbalances we seek to redress. We need to see disproportionate investment.

In respect of the numbers cited earlier for the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, which has 18% of the country's population, we are looking at two different investment categories. This population is getting well below 10% of the investment in capital infrastructure projects. The equivalent figure for the southern region, which has a population of over 33% of the country's population, was no more than 20% of investment in such projects. Effectively, there is a 40% deficit: both the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and the Southern Regional Assembly areas are not hitting the proportionate per capital allocation by 40%, so they are getting 60% of what they should get.

I know the Northern and Western Regional Assembly has a wish list for capital infrastructure projects that are in or around €9 billion while the Southern Regional Assembly made a submission to the national planning framework with projects to the tune of just north of €14 billion. These need to be looked at because we see aspirations in the likes of the national planning framework and Project Ireland 2040 but the next two months are crucial when it comes to the national development plan and the commitment by the Government to fund capital investment projects in the region.

Prior to my election to the Seanad, I was cathaoirleach of the Southern Regional Assembly. Between our three regional cities of Cork, Waterford and Limerick, the likes of BusConnects alone was funded to the tune of about €1.3 billion. The Dublin equivalent was €3.6 billion and this is before one even factors in the massive capital investment set aside for MetroLink, which is in the region of €9.5 billion with estimates in newspapers last week that this is likely to go significantly over budget. If we are serious about capital investment and balanced regional development, this is something we need to look at. We must meaningfully redress the imbalance rather than, as Senator Conway said earlier, looking after the snouts that are largest. We need to ensure all the regions have the opportunity. The commitment in Project Ireland 2040 and the national planning framework is that 50% of the growth we will see in terms of population and economic growth should be targeted in the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and the Southern Regional Assembly areas. We should be looking towards this.

The areas we should focus on for balanced regional development, particularly in the two regions that are being deprived at the moment, are climate action and public transport to ensure that families in rural areas have the option of having one car instead of two to the same extent as families in urban areas, water and housing. Also key are energy and investment in our ports, particularly with offshore renewables, along with roads and healthcare. The issue of healthcare and investment in our hospitals has been addressed by a number of Senators in the debate today.