Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív wishes to discuss with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the need for balanced economic investment in the northern and western regions. Before he begins, there are at least two more generations of the Ó Cuív family in the Public Gallery. They are very welcome.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There are surely. I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. Anyone who goes to the north and west, which consists of Connacht and the parts of Ulster within the Republic of Ireland, is more than aware, just by driving through it, of the lack of infrastructure. In fact, there are no motorways in Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo or Roscommon. There might be a small bit of motorway in Ballinasloe that is in Roscommon, but if there is, it is very short. The reality is that the motorways in Galway consist of the one in Limerick that stops in Tuam and the one from Dublin that goes to Galway.

Grid infrastructure is totally insufficient, even though places like rural areas of Connacht are high-possibility areas for onshore wind generation. When we look under the ground, we find there is a high number of houses without any public water supply and that are dependent on wells and streams, which everyone knows are unsuitable. When we look at towns, we see they are unsewered. Many of the villages do not have any public wastewater systems and cannot expand. When we look at towns that have wastewater systems, they are totally inadequate. On and on it goes when you actually look at the reality on the ground.

I raised this issue previously in the form of parliamentary questions. I hope the same answer has not been regurgitated again, in which a small number of ongoing projects was listed, such as the Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge road project and so forth. What has not happened and what has got worse, however, is the percentage of the expenditure going to the most deprived region in terms of infrastructure, which is way beneath its population share. Looking at the figures, 9.9% of the tenders of more than €1 million under the national development plan went to the northern and western region, even though it has 17.6% of the population. This is not a depopulated area; there is quite a population in it. Looking at tenders in excess of €20 million, the percentage drops to 5.5%. I have no doubt the Department of public expenditure will point out there are some schemes and infrastructure projects that span different regions and might not be covered, such as the national broadband plan. While that is true, even if we stripped that out, there is still a total disparity. The analysis has been fairly thorough in that regard. For example, and this is something that would be dear to the Minister of State’s heart, excluding the two research centres in Galway city, there are no other research centres from Letterkenny to east Cavan and from east Cavan all the way down to Galway. What we need, therefore, is a reversal.

In the 2000s, when we started constructing motorways, I raised a valid question about the need for infrastructure in the west and how the motorways were going to the south, the south west and to Galway but there was very little going to be constructed in that arc which constitutes the western and northern region. I was promised, and it was in Transport 21, that the next iteration would make up for that. This disparity has continued, however.

It seems to me that, when things are done on a cost-benefit analysis, which is the way they are done and which is false, it will always be skewed to where the maximum number of people are. This, therefore, creates problems of overpopulation in some areas and total depopulation in areas that could do with the population and which have the schools, the social infrastructure, the sports facilities, the health centres and whatever else. They could actually do with the population. We are exacerbating our problems by not having balanced regional development.

Every document that comes out now mentions balanced regional development. Despite this, an answer to a parliamentary question I submitted on this matter said that these decisions lie with each line Minister. I would have thought that the delivery of national development plan projects would have an overarching requirement by the Department of national development plan delivery ensuring there was balanced regional development in the round.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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There is one now for the Minister of State.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Yes. The best was saved to last. I thank Deputy Ó Cuív. Before I respond, I pay tribute to him and welcome his family. I have just been informed they are in the Public Gallery. I do not know whether he will have an opportunity to contribute again in this House in the coming weeks. Knowing him, I am sure he will find a couple more opportunities. I wish to put on record his significant contribution to this House, the nation, this Republic and to the party in which I am privileged to serve alongside him. Since I started working with him, he has always been a source of knowledge, experience and, most importantly, wisdom. I thank him for the time he made available. It certainly benefited my career and my understanding of many complex issues. I thank him for that on the public record.

To take up the point he raised, I know this is a topic close to his heart and he has often spoken on these matters. Balanced regional development is a key priority of the Government and is at the heart of Project Ireland 2040. This strategic plan includes the national planning framework, NPF, which sets the overarching spatial strategy for the next 20 years, along with the revised national development plan 2021-2030, which was published in October 2021. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform is responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at departmental level. His Department is also responsible for maintaining the national frameworks within which Departments operate to ensure appropriate accounting for and value for money in public expenditure.

The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects or sectoral policy strategies within the allocations agreed under the national development plan and in line with the national frameworks rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. The Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform therefore allocates expenditure on a departmental basis rather than a geographic basis as per the requests from individual Departments for spending within their remits.

The Government committed €165 billion towards capital investment through the NDP published in 2021. An additional €2.25 billion of windfall corporate tax receipts has also been pledged and allocated from 2024 to 2026 to provide funding for critical infrastructure projects that are at an advanced stage as well as to the existing climate action fund. This builds on the existing funding already available under the NDP out to 2026, and it will mean more schools, housing, transport and healthcare projects can be progressed and delivered for our people across all regions, including in the northern and western region.

The three regional assemblies, including the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, are responsible for co-ordinating, promoting and supporting the strategic planning and sustainable development of their regions by formulating regional spatial and economic strategies, RSES. Investment decisions made by Departments are informed by those strategies.

In 2025, almost €15 billion will be made available from the Exchequer for investment in public capital projects, which will provide more schools, homes, hospitals and other pieces of vital infrastructure. This level of expenditure will be pivotal in consolidating the progress already made, supporting balanced regional development and, most importantly, delivering the necessary infrastructure to support our future climate change obligations as well as our social and economic requirements.

The Government is continuing to deliver and improve infrastructure in the northern and western region in areas such as transport, broadband connectivity, housing and energy. These investments in public infrastructure projects will in turn have a positive effect in delivering employment opportunities and further investment by the private sector so that it becomes a repeating circle.

Examples of progress on delivery in the northern and western regions include better educational facilities - for example, the Holy Family Special School, in Cootehill, Cavan, and Gairmscoil Mhuire, in Athenry, County Galway; more social housing - for example, 74 social housing units in Ballyburke, County Galway, as part of the PPP social housing bundle, and 73 social housing units in the Ursuline convent, Sligo; better transport links, including upgrades on the N4 from Collooney to Castlebaldwin, the N5 from Westport to Turlough, the N56 from Mountcharles to Inver road, and the N59 Moycullen bypass, all projects which will save lives and boost competitiveness as well as providing for smoother journeys in every sense, while being regionally balanced and in line with Project Ireland 2040; better health facilities, including a radiation oncology unit at University Hospital Galway, a residential care centre at Dungloe Community Hospital and a primary care centre in Monaghan town; high-quality cultural and sporting amenities, such as the new libraries in Virginia, County Cavan, and Monaghan town; and hundreds of projects across the rural and urban regeneration and disruptive technologies funds.

I have a long list but I think the Deputy gets the idea that there are many projects under way in the region

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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God forbid the day anyone would ask for the same list for the eastern region. We would be here for a week. The reality is 9.9%. That is what the Minister of State read out. Where is the missing 9%? We always get small projects, but big things are needed. Taking projects in excess of €20 million, we are missing 12%. The population of the region is 17% and we have only 5% of the investment, so we would nearly need to treble the input of projects. Looking at rail investment, for example, despite the fact that there was a commitment in Transport 21 and a Government decision - I checked this - made in the 2000s to extend the railway line to Tuam and to Claremorris, it has not happened yet. As I pointed out, many houses in the west of Ireland do not have a public water supply. There are a whole lot of complications that arise from that situation, so we need rebalancing of the infrastructure spend.

It seems to me absolutely extraordinary that there is this mantra of balanced regional development again and again, but then we just leave it to the Departments and away they go and they do not answer to anybody for balanced regional development. That is just what it is - a mantra that does not have any meaning. When you challenge that mantra with hard figures, all you get is the Department coming back regurgitating a reply it gave in the Dáil to me. It is the same answer and the same litany and does not address the issue. I am not blaming the Minister of State individually for coming in here with a script given by the Department, but it is time we got balanced regional development. To be quite honest, it would take a lot of pressure off the east coast of this country if we had balanced regional development. As somebody who has spent quite a considerable time in my life in the development role, developing industry, social services and so forth on the ground, the reality was that the biggest inhibitor was a lack of basic infrastructure.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I beg the tolerance of the Ceann Comhairle. I started off when it took me a year and a half to get one telephone line. In certain ways, relatively speaking, we have not progressed since.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I note everything the Deputy says in his very strong contribution. I reiterate that the goal and one of the core objectives of Project Ireland 2040 is strengthening rural economies and rural communities. Building up and improving services for the population requires significant investment in infrastructure, now and into the future. That is undoubted. Prioritising key social and economic investment has been a critical component for the Government in supporting Ireland's growth and in delivering better, fit-for-purpose public services. Through the record investment of €165 billion set out in the NDP, along with additional capital, as I mentioned, from windfall receipts, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to increased infrastructural spend and investment right across the country. Total capital investment in 2025 will be almost €15 billion, the highest annual spend to date. The Government is investing sums well above the EU norms in the current and future years of the NDP. I appreciate the Deputy's point that those should be better spread across the regions and that there should be an allocation above 9%, as he says, for the western region. The Departments have choices to make in terms of spending, and there are a number of criteria that they assess those on. Perhaps that should form part of that matrix in future. I hear the point he makes there.

The Deputy will be pleased to note that I have another list of projects. I will cite just one from my Department, the opening of the upgraded N56 Dungloe to Glenties road in April of this year with a sum of €100 million. That was a very significant commitment of intent and money well spent on that road, which I hope-----

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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We got that into Transport 2020 way back in the day, and by dad it was needed, and a lot more to go with it.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Well, the fact it has actually happened is very welcome. I hear the points the Deputy makes. The Government will continue to make efforts to boost NDP delivery and to strive towards regional development.