National Development Plan Dail Éireann — 2023-03-02 ============================================================ Alan Farrell (FG), Dublin Fingal Quality of life is key to all of this. We can spend as much money as we like, but if we do not improve the quality of life for the people already there, Swords will no longer be the vibrant county town it is. Of course, I recognise that it takes time for these projects to get out of the blocks, through planning and all the rest of it. I am acutely aware that consideration of metro, for instance, is currently before the board and a decision is due on or about 26 May. I am very aware of €50 million investment by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in the college of the future in Swords, which will be transformational in terms of educational choices that students across Dublin's north side will make in the near future. There have been almost generations of lack of investment particularly in transport infrastructure, but I cast no stones at any particular government. I know these projects are in the schedule, but I am keenly focused on assisting the Minister in ensuring they are delivered. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-03-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-03-02