Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for coming in today. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges facing this State is the scaling of our infrastructure. I appreciate we have record levels of capital investment, but it is only reasonable and fair to say the national development plan 2025 to 2035 will be a defining one against the backdrop of rising population and bullish economic growth. It is vital we meet these challenges in the areas of transport, water and energy head on. It is just under €276 billion of capital investment. With this funding, we have the chance and opportunity to build a nation fit for purpose and fit for the future. It is an investment that can and should set us apart as leaders among our European neighbours. We can reach our climate goals but more importantly, we can build a nation truly for all and one where no sector, community or townland is left behind. I know the Minister shares these sentiments and beliefs and deeply values them.

I was pleased to hear him speak of better public services, but I believe all agencies of the State need to be working much harder, more effectively and should be absolutely focused on the challenges of our times, be these housing, infrastructure or climate. There is doubt that the body politic and many Government Departments and agencies were severely damaged by the fallout from the OPW funding calamity last year. I fear too many Government Departments and agencies are now gripped by paralysis now when it comes to making hard decisions. All too often, there is a sense now that nobody wants to make the big decisions, and this is crippling the delivery of services nationwide. It is also important to say, however, that we have many incredibly dedicated and hardworking people across these Government Departments, agencies and local authorities. These are people who have consistently worn the Irish jersey and want the very best for this wonderful country and people.

All too often, our leadership in Departments and across local authorities is dented and thwarted by the election cycle and the transition of key officeholders. I regret seeing a wave of conservatism gripping many senior managers when it comes to the delivery of key services. I have seen the Minister engage over recent months with many of these leaders at Department and local authority level. He is in no doubt as to the passion and commitment of many of our teams across our Civil Service. I think he has a critical role now, along with the Taoiseach, in delivering a new and energised level of leadership across our State. There is no doubt that we need to be prudent and we certainly need to meet our budgets. Now more than ever, though, against the backdrop of that €276 billion, we need to be brave and maximise this unprecedented opportunity. We need a wave of enthusiasm and fervent leadership sweeping through all Departments. I am in no doubt that the Minister can personally lead this change, but there is also a huge onus on all his Cabinet colleagues to follow through on his lead. It is incumbent on all Ministers now that we drive change, set challenges and consistently strive to over-deliver.

This is an unprecedented opportunity for this country. If we were to listen to many of the Opposition Members in these Houses, and I do not see too many of them here this afternoon, they are almost Trump-like in their analysis when it comes to describing Ireland, yet this is one of the most successful advanced economies in Europe, one that has flourished in just over 100 years of independence. It is one that has triumphed in a post-Covid era, found the positives in the aftermath of Brexit, and met the challenges of war in Ukraine and an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis with resolve and commendable leadership. This was thanks in large part to the efforts, vision and foresight of leaders such as Micheál Martin, Michael McGrath and the Minister, Deputy Chambers.The media and, all too often, as a result, wider society are fixated with the President of America, Mr. Trump. The reality, though, is that he will leave office in 2028. We need to work on and retain our unrivalled relationship with the US. We have been consummate diplomats over the years and never were these qualities more in need. There will not be a flow of FDI companies from Ireland; rather, we are likely to see more because we have what the US and eastern European nations do not have, that is, a young, skilled, highly-educated and adept workforce. One does not build that workforce overnight. For us, it was a result of generational investment and leadership, in large part from Micheál Martin in his time as Minister for education.

The detail of the €276 billion NDP will be critical. Missing links of infrastructure need to be delivered. The Minister will forgive me for reminding him of the N4 upgrade, on which he was very proactive in his time in the transport Department. That needs to be finalised.

We need to calibrate rural and urban Ireland. We have far too many Government agencies still within the confines of Dublin city. We have staff on low incomes within those Departments struggling to make ends meet. There is a consummate need, and a demand, for a major decentralisation campaign and to move many of these Departments out of Dublin. The midlands was promised a just transition when we fast-tracked decarbonisation and closed our peat generation plants. We have yet to see the benefits of that. The obvious solution for that is a sustained and planned decentralisation and taking as many Government functions and Departments out of Dublin and move them to the midlands, primarily Longford, Westmeath and Offaly.

The Minister has set out many eye-watering details of this NDP. It is the largest ever capital investment plan in the history of the State and it will enable the delivery of thousands of new homes, provide more childcare and school places, invest in children's disability services and ensure better healthcare for all. That is the Ireland we want. That is the Ireland we have been gifted and this is why we now have an unprecedented opportunity to deliver.

It is expected in the lifetime of this Government that the Minister and his much-respected colleague, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will alternate roles. However, I make the point that these are, indeed, unprecedented times and I would suggest and argue that Deputy Chambers should remain in the Department of public expenditure role for the lifetime of this Government. The new accelerating infrastructure task force is chaired by Deputy Chambers and has been established by him to oversee the Department's programme of reform and unblock barriers and accelerate infrastructure delivery. It is a critical component in the Government's work programme and is rigorously focused on tackling the most important barriers to the delivery of critical economic infrastructure.

We saw T.K. Whitaker's economic development plan in the sixties which in large part delivered the country's first golden age and predated the Celtic tiger, but critical building blocks were provided earlier by the visionary Seán Lemass, who sent emissaries to Europe for investors to come back to Ireland and set up factories in the wake of the Second World War. Indeed, we saw one of those in Longford, with the Hirsch Ribbon factory. We then had the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, who brought us into the EEC, which is now the EU, a move that was vehemently opposed by the main Opposition party until the early 1990s. There is a constant, though, in that generational and evolving narrative, and that is Fianna Fáil. That is why it is so critical that we have the Minister, Deputy Chambers, at the tiller at a time when Ireland has truly become the gateway to the Europe. Now we have an opportunity to set ourselves apart as the poster boys for Europe in terms of health, education, disability services, infrastructure and climate.