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Infrastructure Defecit In The West Must Be Addressed

I welcome the speech recently by John Brennan West Regional Director of IBEC who said that much of the essential infrastructure in the West of Ireland is “not fit for purpose”. This is something that I have been pointing out for some time. The problems stem from a decision by the government to remove the core funding status towards the West of Ireland in 2011. This was core funding from Europe which provided up to 40% towards essential infrastructure such as roads, rail links, broadband, and water and sewage services. However the then Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar and the government changed their policy in that regard in 2011. I will be going to Europe in October to lobby to have that funding model resumed for the Western Region. The infrastructure in the Western region now must be brought up to an acceptable standard and there is “Ten T” funding that can help in that regard. This is something that I have been working on for some months and I will continue to pursue this very important issue over coming weeks and months.