I am going talk about the 2040 national development plan as it applies to the mid-west region. The plan was written in 2015. It is like a "once upon a time" story when one considers what is needed in Limerick. The plan later became the national development plan of 2019 and then the national framework, which is now the 2040 plan. I looked at the investment projects and programme tracker in advance of Leaders' Questions. MetroLink in Dublin is receiving €1 billion. The Luas cross-city initiative has received €500 million. The national children's hospital project has received €1 billion. The greater Dublin drainage scheme has been allocated €1 billion. The Ringsend water treatment plant has been allocated €1 billion. All of those projects are to be completed by 2025. I am sure they are all worthwhile projects, but what about the rest of the country?

The Minister mentioned Foynes Port and I stated in the Dáil last week and the week before that it is the deepest port in Europe. I also mentioned the dispersion of traffic throughout the country on more than one occasion in the Dáil. The motorway from Limerick to Dublin is nothing but trucks and buses. The Minister talked about Dublin Port and 97% of roll-on, roll-off traffic is coming through Dublin. Foynes Port is a perfect answer to achieve the reduced emissions that the Minister talks about. The perfect solution for dispersion of traffic is Shannon Airport, which can cater for 4.5 million passengers but which, before 2019, dealt with only 1.8 million passengers. People could not go through Shannon because they could not get connecting flights. It was not viable to run those flights through Shannon. The Minister must look for a new chairperson of Shannon Group and I ask him to look for someone who has a track record in business, who knows the Department and how to run the airport and make it work for the region.

The people of Limerick nearly had to walk the streets again last week to get the agreement in respect of a road project that was approved in 2015. What is the Government at? Some 60% of the towns and villages in County Limerick had inadequate water supplies on Monday. The sewerage systems of 73% of the towns and villages in Limerick are at maximum capacity. The development plan states that housing and infrastructure is to be centred around towns and villages in rural Ireland but not in the countryside. The Government needs to wake up and look outside Dublin.

Looking forward to 2040, we absolutely need a metro system, BusConnects, DART+ and various other projects in Dublin. My colleagues in government know that in any meeting I have, my first priority is, as I told Deputy Verona Murphy, the national planning framework. We need better balanced, more compact and low-carbon development in this country. My first priority should be to look at the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick and put in infrastructural investment to see those cities grow beyond anything we have seen in the past 40 years. I agree with the Deputy that investment needs to be made in Limerick and the Shannon area in general. I would start in Foynes Port where, as the Deputy said, there is huge potential and very deep waters. The port is located close to the offshore wind power resources that we know we are going to develop. That gives us the potential for industrial development in the area, using the power as it comes ashore rather than shipping it to another location on the east coast. We should put the industry where the power exists. We will need infrastructure for rail freight because I believe that zinc deposits in the region could well be used and will have to be moved by rail rather than road. We will reopen the Foynes rail line and not at considerable cost because the line is there. When we are doing that, we will look at the other four underused rail lines in Limerick and look to put in stations at key points across the city and region, including at Shannon Airport, Moyross, Corbally and a range of other stations across and around the city. That would accommodate what we want, which is transport-led, compact and high-quality development where we can put in new housing. That is my first priority and we need it.

We will get the metro and BusConnects and have done good work on those two. We have not done the work in Limerick yet but we are doing it now. In the review of the national development plan, it is that sort of investment that I hope turns everyone around to thinking that is the clever way of developing Limerick. We can put housing beside the infrastructure and use the advantages of the region. That would benefit not only Limerick but also the wider region because we all know that if that infrastructure is put in, tourism starts to work better to the benefit of Clare and Tipperary. Let us have a vision of a metropolitan region that would extend as far as Nenagh. There should be a fast, low-carbon electric train service. That is all doable. The planning time will not be long because the rail lines are there and all we need to do is to put in the stations. My colleague, Deputy Matthews, tells me that Irish Rail has real capability and plans that we can take off the shelf. We could do that work at the same time we develop stations in Cork. They can be delivered at low cost and built quickly because there are not planning delays and high costs. We will use the existing infrastructure well. That infrastructure was built almost 100 years ago but it still works. We can upgrade it today to make Limerick a 21st century city fit for the future.

I look forward to the investment in Limerick but, as I said, it is like a "once upon a time" story. The Minister is talking about everything but 73% of towns and villages have no infrastructure, sewerage or adequate water supplies while €4.5 billion is spent in Dublin. There are 25 other counties in the Republic of Ireland and the Government is spending billions in Dublin and throwing crumbs out to the other counties in the country. People will not be able to work in the areas the Minister is talking about. Askeaton has been waiting for a sewerage plant for 30 years. Oola has been waiting for a sewerage plant for 10 years. Twenty-one houses were built in Kilfinane and five of them had to go onto a private on-site sewerage system because there is no capacity.

I love to see the Minister's vision and hear him tell his stories but reality is reality. The 2040 plan is going to stop people who are building one-off houses and installing their own top of the range sewerage plants that cost €10,000. Such people pay €5,000 to the local authorities because the Government has not seen the vision. The 2040 plan would be a good plan if there was the infrastructure in Limerick and across Ireland.

One of the reasons we want compact development is because if we keep building outward, we have to keep building more and more new infrastructure. It would be far more economic for us and work far better if we build up our existing towns through a town-centre-first strategy. We must invest in all those existing sewerage systems in towns where sewage is pumped directly out. Compact development works not only because there is no time cost when one can walk to a shop, church or local pub, but it is also because we are using existing infrastructure. We are not allowing that infrastructure go to seed and then building outward. It is availing of what we have. That applies in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Donegal or wherever we are.

As well as the cities we must build up, more than anything else we must address our 19th century market towns. A strategic question has been asked of whether we let them wither on the vine or if we bring people and life back into their centre and create vibrant communities. That is what this Government is going to do.