2025-12-11

13. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the position regarding investment in critical infrastructure in the west of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [70765/25]

It will come as no surprise to the Minister that I am raising the issue of critical infrastructure in the west. Thankfully, the storm this week did not hit Connemara in the way Storms Éowyn, Bert and Darragh did last year. However, we still have the aftermath and impact of those storms. The Minister knows Connemara well. If he travels around Connemara now, he will see there are still wires on the ground and poles hanging to one side. What is his plan for the west?

As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets out overall expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group. These are laid out at Vote level in the budget day expenditure report published in October, with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published in December. Following the allocation of each ministerial expenditure ceiling, it is a matter for each Minister to assign funding as appropriate at programme and subhead level for their Departments and the agencies under their remit, accounting for the demands for services in different areas and regions, having regard to demographics and other relevant factors. Within this process, both current and capital expenditure are allocated on a departmental rather than geographic basis. More broadly, the achievement of balanced regional development is a key priority of this Government in Project Ireland 2040, which includes the national planning framework and the national development plan. Since Project Ireland 2040 was launched in 2018, the Government has overseen the delivery of many impactful NDP projects across the country, including in the west of Ireland, for example, the enterprise centres in Boyle and Tulsk in County Roscommon and Belmullet and Swinford in County Mayo, the N59 Moycullen bypass, the Salmon Weir bridge in County Galway, the Killaloe bypass in County Clare, the heritage and tourism projects in Portumna, Galway and Aghleam, Mayo and many other capital projects. The NDP review 2025 was published on 22 July 2025. It committed €275.4 billion up to 2035, the largest and most significant capital injection in our economy in the history of the State. Arising from this, €19.1 billion in Exchequer capital investment will be provided in 2026. On budget day, Ministers set out the capital projects and programmes that they will prioritise within their allocation in 2026. In recent weeks, Ministers have developed sectoral plans for priority investment programmes. Many of these projects relate to the west, including the Uisce Éireann upgrade of water and wastewater treatment plants in Lough Mask and Claremorris in County Mayo, 35 social and 310 affordable housing units in Crowne Square in Galway, new transport infrastructure with Bus Connects Galway and the Galway city ring road. I can list many more.

I understand what the Minister said about things not being done in an area-specific way but, rather, in terms of Departments. I also know that he is the Minister for infrastructure, and he has an understanding of the west of Ireland. He has links to the west and knows Connemara well from his time as Minister for the Gaeltacht. I know, and I am sure the Minister knows, the serious lack of basic critical infrastructure in Connemara in particular. Safe roads and safe bridges are lacking. We still have the repercussions from Storm Éowyn, and all of these things will worsen unless specific capital investment is made in the area now. I ask the Minister to look at what can be done through his Department to ensure the area has basic critical infrastructure so that people can live in and go about their daily lives in the area and jobs can be created in it.

I am familiar with those elements of the west of Ireland, in Galway, Mayo and elsewhere. The west is being prioritised in many of the projects set out in the sectoral investment plans. There is the social and affordable housing delivery we want to ramp up in the context of the housing sectoral plan that the Minister, Deputy Browne, has published. The transport sectoral plan will significantly enhance public transport and there address road infrastructure projects across the west, which have been waiting for years. There is also the resilience the Deputy mentioned in the context of storms and other issues. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, through the work the OPW is doing, is front-loading a lot of the capital investment in flooding and other areas to make sure we build greater resilience. Similarly, there is work happening on other infrastructure across many Departments. This is agreed at a sectoral level. The wider funding arrangements are clear in Project Ireland 2040, as is ensuring balanced regional development.

When I look at infrastructure in the west I see it in two veins. There is obviously the serious capital investment needed for those bigger projects. The Minister has outlined some of them. Any investment there is welcome but there are also thee basic things that need to be done immediately. The Minister will remember the snow during Storm Bert, which had serious implications across Connemara. We then had Storm Darragh and when we had Storm Éowyn, Connemara did not have a chance. The impact of those storms on that basic infrastructure, which was already eroding, was devastating. We need to see some kind of plan from the Government - whichever Department sees fit but the Minister is obviously over infrastructure - to make sure we have those basics in order that this does not happen again. We still have wires on the ground as a result of Storm Darragh, not Storm Éowyn. That work needs to be done and a boost or push from the Government would really help in that regard.

Regarding wastewater infrastructure in Craughwell and Clarinbridge in County Galway, funding was announced three years ago for the provision of wastewater infrastructure in those villages. This was very important for the delivery of housing and I raised this before with the Minister at the infrastructure committee. Since then, that project has been at a standstill. In recent weeks, Government TDs welcomed an increase of several million euro in the allocation of funding for this project. However, the only reason this is needed is because the project has stood still and costs have increased in the meantime. The greatest barrier to delivery of this project is the 15% co-funding allocation expected of local authorities for such projects. That means Galway County Council would be expected to make a contribution of approximately €5 million. The local authority does not have this money and has not budgeted for it. When we talked about accelerating delivery, this issue needs to be sorted. It is a major barrier and needs to be taken out of the way to ensure delivery. Can the Minister commit to removing this co-funding requirement to ensure these projects can be delivered in a timely manner?

On the latter point, I am following up on that with Irish Water in the context of wastewater treatment plants. There has been a funding increase. I can get a specific answer to the question for the Deputy. I am aware of the importance of the issue to local towns and villages in County Galway. To the other point on resilience of critical infrastructure, a recent Cabinet committee meeting focused on the learnings from Storm Éowyn, the greater prevalence of storms and the impact this is having on basic infrastructure. It is a critical point of co-ordination across government on building better resilience into our basic infrastructure systems and also ensuring response in respect of community resilience. There is a strong focus on co-ordination in the work the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is doing as well.