Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on a recent report by an organisation (details supplied) which shows that the proportion of State infrastructural investment going into Dublin-related projects reaches 48%. [19032/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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My Department is engaging directly with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the allocation of public capital investment, for which they have immediate responsibility. In regard to infrastructural investment, the State needs to make clear, strategic and evidence-based choices to support the productive sector in the first instance. In that context, my Department supports the prioritisation of investment to address bottlenecks that are constraining growth today, minimise new bottlenecks, invest where economic development is likely to occur, and unlock potential of regions throughout Ireland, with a particular focus on realising the benefit of investing in combinations of infrastructures.  Strategic investments within the overarching national context, and actions focused on maximising the competitive advantages and potential of each of the regions, including Dublin, are key to ensuring that each region can both benefit from and contribute to Ireland’s future national growth.

The ongoing review of the public capital programme, the development of the new National Planning Framework, and meetings of the relevant Cabinet Committee/Senior Officials Group have all provided opportunities for my Department to inform strategic and evidence-based choices which support enterprise, innovation, and employment.