Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2004
7 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress that has been made to date on the national spatial strategy objective of balanced regional development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8026/04]
View answerThe Government has put measures in place at national, regional and local levels aimed at achieving the strategy's objective of more balanced regional development through a better spread of economic activity, population and employment growth. At national level, my Department is co-ordinating the process of embedding the national spatial strategy into the programmes of Departments and agencies to ensure that relevant programme support the spatial strategy. An interdepartmental steering group has been established to facilitate this process. In addition, my Department and the Department of Transport have jointly established a spatial strategy integration group to work on spatial strategy implementation from a transport perspective.
At regional level, regional planning guidelines are being prepared by all regional authorities with the objective of having these adopted in all regions by the end of May 2004. At local level, planning authorities are putting in place development frameworks and plans for gateways and hubs to support the achievement of critical mass at these strategic locations. These are already in place in Cork and Galway and are well advanced at other locations.
In adopting the spatial strategy, the Government decided that it would be an important factor in the prioritisation of capital investment, and in the allocation of sectoral investment. Substantial progress is now being made on many major capital investment programmes supporting more balanced regional development, especially in providing key regional linkages under the roads programmes, and measures supporting the development of gateways, hubs and other large urban centres under the public transport and environmental services investment programmes. Infrastructure projects which are of particular significance in this regard include the Dublin-Galway motorway on which work is being prioritised, the Ennis bypass, the Sligo inner relief road and the Mutton Island waste water treatment scheme, which will help to attract major industrial investment to the west.
Arrangements have been made in the case of my Department's expenditure programmes on non-national roads and water services to ensure that projects being proposed for funding take account of and facilitate the implementation of the spatial strategy.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The public services Estimates for 2004 and this year's public capital programme confirmed the Government's continuing commitment to investment in the infrastructure needed to support balanced regional development. My Department is compiling a more detailed progress report on the spatial strategy for the steering group for Sustaining Progress and this will be made generally available upon completion.
I welcome the national spatial strategy and its implementation so far. Is it reasonable to expect local authorities to adhere to those guidelines pending the full development of the regional development plans? Would the Minister agree that counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow in particular appear to be ignoring the general guidelines in terms of the formulation of the regional plans? I drove down the country last week and saw that what used to be a green field now has a housing scheme built on it with no appropriate facilities or infrastructure in place. Can we combat such development?
I welcome the Deputy's comments regarding his pleasure at what is happening, but these are still early days. It is meant to be a 20 year strategy and will not happen overnight. Through Departments and agencies, the Government can merely try to direct investment towards the regions to build up the infrastructure. Guidelines are issued as such. When the process is gone through, they are then designated as ministerial directives. There may be a period in which people, while they have the process of consultation, might not fully subscribe to the direction in which we are heading. Once the guidelines become ministerial directives, they all feed into one another at national, regional and local level. We must have joined-up government where all these aspects work and influence one another. The direction will be clear, and it will feed down.
Regarding the NDF, the national development funding agency, there is disappointment about the development of public private partnerships. Dr. Somers said today that €200 million is sitting in an account and in respect of which no application has been received. Will the Minister of State explain that difficulty? At the same time, billions are being invested in the foreign exchange, money which could be invested in this country. I am disappointed about that. The national development fund agency, whose role is to develop the spatial strategy, is not getting the work on which the money in the Exchequer should be spent.
Is there any logic in the fact that a spatial strategy was evolved only to be followed by a decentralisation programme? A hub town such as Monaghan got only 15 jobs from decentralisation. Does that make sense? Does one hand know what the other is doing?
The M2 road is under way, which the Ceann Comhairle and I appreciate, but the M3 planned to go through Cavan and on to Belturbet is not on the map. If we are to have the spatial strategy we need that sort of infrastructure.
I hear what people are saying, but this is a long-term issue. Funding is being earmarked and prioritised towards projects in the regions. Not every region will be able to access the funds in the first year.
There is no application whatever.
Some of my own colleagues and constituents might not be quite as committed to it as the Government. There is no doubt about the commitment when one looks at the expenditure priorities. I see the effect at departmental level, in the bilaterals between the my Department and the Department of Finance, whereby the latter wants to see if one is being consistent with the overall Government strategy. It is not simply a case of issuing a report. It is being rigorously examined in terms of consistency filtering through. It will happen but will take a while.
The Government move on decentralisation fully conformed with the spatial strategy. I hear people suggesting that is not so, but I do not understand that. Six of the hubs identified in the strategy benefited from the new decentralisation programme, and two of the remainder already had decentralised offices. The decentralisation programme is aimed at making a significant and well-planned contribution to the objectives of the spatial strategy. It was not the only factor when they were deciding it. Other factors had to come into play. A number of the hubs, including Cavan and Monaghan, benefited from decentralisation. Tralee and Killarney also did, along with Kilkenny, Wexford and Mallow. Six of the nine got decentralisation benefits, and two already had them. The notion that we went off on a different tangent is mistaken. There were other towns which were not hubs or gateways, which were designated for decentralisation. The term "regional" applies to more than just hubs and gateways. It is a case of other towns within the sphere of the gateway feeding in.
That is so in the east and west, but not in the midlands.
I do not know the answer to that. It might be more properly directed to the Minister for Finance. There is a general drive in every Department about directing finance. I will ask to have that matter considered and will contact the Deputy.
