I note that, in the programme from 2021 to 2025, there was a clear call to reverse the flow of young people moving to the city. People living and working in their own towns and villages is what we should be working for. I welcome the billions of euro that will probably be spent on our new development plan. I welcome the engagement tonight. When we see young people spending 26 hours per week in a car driving from the south east to Dublin, however, that is frustrating. It is hitting their mental health. There is a cost to it, and it leaves a carbon footprint. I therefore encourage and welcome the proposals going forward. I ask the Minister to please look at the towns and villages that have not been supported previously. I can give him the example of the town of Arklow. I know that there are five or six towns like Arklow in Ireland - towns and villages that were simply ignored. Arklow was the home of Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. It was the home of a great port. It was the home of Arklow Pottery. Then, over 30 years, due to lack of investment, it slowly declined. Now, however, Arklow is on the crest of a wave. There is a €3.6 billion data centre planned. There are approximately 50 offshore windmills planned. Arklow is in line for a greenway, which we discussed in this room before. There is continual investment. We are expecting thousands of houses. What we need to see, however, is investment in the social infrastructure of that town. That town has no theatre. If people want a concert in Arklow tonight, they either go to the hotel, a church or the school. It has no community centre. I have visited tiny villages in counties Wexford and Wicklow and seen fabulous community centres but for whatever reason, a town of 14,500 people still does not have a community centre. There is a building there that is waiting to be taken on. It just needs work and investment. Arklow has no town park. It is the home of Ronnie Delaney, where he was born, Lord have mercy on him, and Mary Hickey, the only woman to run around Ireland. Both were born and reared in Arklow, and it has not got a town park to show for it. I call for the social infrastructure and capital infrastructure, such as bridges and roads, to be matched with this expected boom in the town. It needs the support. As I said, Arklow is not on its own. There are plenty of towns like it out there that have been ignored for decades.

Sentiment score: 0.07