Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on balanced regional development, but the very idea of balanced regional development is at odds with our current national development plan. The plan seeks to put half of Ireland's population in the Dublin region. That means half of us will live, work and commute in a tiny corner of the country, while the rest of the country is left underinvested, neglected and stranded on the margins. How will we provide water services and infrastructure for this massive growth in a small area? The answer we have been presented with is to pump and pipe the water from the River Shannon at a cost and to ignore the reality that key towns across Ireland are already on lockdown due to decades of underinvestment in water and sewerage.

Yesterday, I attended a briefing on the M20 motorway road, a road that is meant to connect counties Limerick and Cork. At long last it is on the agenda, but the delivery timeline stretches well into the middle of the next decade. To add insult to injury, it looks like this road could be entirely tolled at every section, a literal price we pay for not following balanced policy from the outset. We are forever held hostage by the one big idea in Ireland's planning and development. At one time, it was the building of new towns, a policy meant to kick-start employment and provide houses without delivering services, amenities or a real future for these communities. Shannon Town was a rare exception. It was founded in the 1960s alongside the successful Shannon Airport. In almost 60 years since, however, we have not kept up. We have failed to match its growth with proper infrastructure, healthcare, education and employment. The result has been persistent underinvestment all along the western seaboard. The midlands, the south and the west should not become commuter belts for Dublin or holiday playgrounds for the wealthy. Our communities deserve better.

Back in the 1960s, the Buchanan report tried to bring forward a policy for balanced growth, a policy that was promptly shelved for almost 40 years. Later, we had gateways and hubs, a policy meant to reflect Ireland's unique regional potential, but it fell victim to political pressure. There were gateways for everyone, which made it meaningless. We had a policy by acronym and not by necessity. Then we tried decentralisation, a policy meant to move Civil Service jobs out of Dublin. This simply reshuffled job titles. It kept the centralised structures in place and stranded many people in career culs-de-sac. It was people we should have relocated, supported by providing multiagency hubs, not just office furniture and files.

The fundamental problem in all these approaches is the view that there should be one winner. A small number of places thrive, while the rest are left stranded. There are no winners in this scenario. Everyone loses when we undermine the very communities we aim to serve. We need to step back and move away from the cyclical plans made from the top down and restart from the bottom up, from the communities themselves. We need a grassroots appraisal of what each area needs, whether it is a small town, a rural parish or a city neighbourhood. This is not about grand promises or sprawling plans. It is about strong, viable communities and putting people first through their employment prospects, education, healthcare and being able to live, work and raise their families in their own place. Let us leave aside the one big idea policy and start listening to the people who live in these communities. Balanced development should be a policy made by and for all of Ireland, not just a few.