Regional Development
Dail Éireann — 2024-05-16
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Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim

I keep hearing that the Government will do everything in its power to advance these projects as fast as it can. That is what we hear all the time in the region. The Minister tells me about the big pot of money out there that is going to be spent. That is not my question. My question is, where is it being spent? Where is it being delivered?
I agree with the Minister on the rural transport issue. I absolutely agree about Connecting Ireland but I am talking about the big infrastructure projects. What I want to hear is that front-loading will occur for a region that over the past 25 years has been lagging further and further behind when it comes to infrastructure.
The European Commission told us we are in the bottom 10%. There are some very poor regions across Europe. We are not comparing here with regions in Ireland. We are comparing with regions all across Europe. Any Government should be ashamed of that fact when we talk about this being one of the richest countries in Europe. I want to see action, not more promises.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-05-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-05-16