Infrastructure is absolutely vital. We can talk about the building of homes, which is absolutely necessary, but as we build homes, we must build infrastructure. As the Minister knows, I was born and bred in Mallow. For over 30 years now, the people of Mallow have been talking about a relief road to relieve traffic congestion in the town. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, despite promise after promise, have failed to deliver for the people of Mallow. In every single announcement that the 34th Government has made in the Dáil, Mallow has been completely left behind. It is no coincidence that there is no Government TD representing the people of Mallow. The Government, in announcement after announcement, makes no specific mention of the Mallow relief road. We are crying out for funding, as is Cork County Council, yet there is no commitment to it. There has been no commitment on the Mallow–Dungarvan greenway either. A spokesperson I spoke to in Cork County Council told me that project is dead in the water because the Government does not care about it. On the matter of the Cork–Limerick motorway, there is no other European country in which the second and third largest cities are not connected by a motorway. That there is no connection between Cork and Limerick is unbelievable. I recognise that work has been done on the Cork commuter rail line, but it is simply not enough. The people of Mallow are sick and tired of waiting for delivery on projects of this Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael Government. I do not blame them. For decades now, promise after promise has been made around election time, but with no delivery. As Minister for public expenditure and infrastructure, Deputy Chambers should go back to his Department officials and speak to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, about the development and construction of the Mallow relief road, the single biggest infrastructure project in my hometown and in my constituency, Cork North-Central.

Sentiment score: -0.08