Yesterday, we had the publication of the National Development Plan Review 2025 - Securing Ireland’s Future Sectoral Investment Plan: Transport. A number of bypasses are needed in County Laois but it looks like the whole county was bypassed for funding. The Tánaiste was down there this week last year, exactly 52 weeks ago, canvassing for the general election. Huge housing developments are needed in Laois. There has been rapid population growth in the county. It has been one of the top three counties in terms of population growth in the last three years. There is huge pent-up demand for housing and for infrastructure but we cannot have the housing without the infrastructure. Throughout the county, there is a need for roads, water services, wastewater services, sewerage services and electricity services to be expanded. The national development plan review published yesterday has approximately €202 billion in capital funding between now and 2030. On 22 July, the Tánaiste said we were prioritising investment in water, energy and transport and laying the groundwork for 300,000 new homes. That is 50,000 a year. The Government will not be able to do it. It prioritised Laois but I will come back to that.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has set out in its recent national planning framework document the projected need for 1,244 additional houses per annum in County Laois, on top of what is already being provided. This is a huge expansion in population. A 35% increase in population over the next nine years is what is being projected. This comes on top of five years of very rapid growth. As I said, the county is in the top three in terms of population expansion. Now, the local authorities are being asked to zone huge tracts of land. Without it being serviced, this land will be useless. People will have to get in and out by helicopter because there will not be roads. The infrastructure is required or it will stall these housing projects. It is not possible to build 1,200 or 1,300 houses per year unless these projects go ahead.

The roads that are critically needed are the Portlaoise northern orbital route and the Mountmellick relief road, which is critical, as the Tánaiste saw himself when he was down last year. To open up all that land, particularly across the north and west of Portlaoise, the northern orbital route is required. Water services need to be expanded according to Uisce Éireann and the document I have here. All the red lines in this document show where they are needed throughout the county. Graiguecullen, Borris-in-Ossory, Ballinakill, The Swan and Timahoe need wastewater improvements, while Portarlington, Durrow, Mountrath, Stradbally, Rathdowney and Ballylinan need expansion in water supply. It is critical that we have this infrastructure for the council and private developers to be able to provide the housing.

Will the Tánaiste go back to the drawing board with this review and ensure that Laois receives some funding, particularly for the Portlaoise northern orbital route and the Mountmellick relief road but also for the expansion of wastewater and water services? We cannot have houses unless we have services. It cannot be done. We also need to relieve the congestion on the N80, and that can only be done by the Mountmellick relief road and the northern orbital route in Portlaoise.

I thank Deputy Stanley for raising these matters. I was indeed in Laois canvassing during the election. I was delighted that my new colleague, Deputy Willie Aird, joined the Deputy in Dáil Éireann.

There were big promises made.

They are promises that Deputy Aird is going to keep and he will work with the Deputy constructively in relation to that as well because we have a lot of work we need to do to deliver for the people of Laois and the midlands. The Deputy makes constructive and fair points. We obviously have to put the infrastructure in place to enable the housing capacity to be delivered. That is a statement of fact.

What the Deputy saw yesterday was another piece of the jigsaw in terms of approval for a sectoral investment plan for transport under the national development plan, NDP. This is a very significant increase with regard to a number of projects. We will be in a position to deliver approximately €9.7 billion in investment in roads, protecting and renewing existing roads, delivering many new national road projects, trying to mitigate seasonal and climate-related impacts, rolling out electric vehicle, EV, charging infrastructure and delivering new strategic regional roads.

The Minister for Transport was at pains to say yesterday and on many other occasions - the Ministers of State, Deputies Buttimer and Canney, are here with us also - that this list is not exhaustive. It lists a number of projects that will be delivered. There will also be an annual Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, capital plan and we expect that plan to come early in the new year. There will also be opportunities, specifically in relation to the housing point, to look at how we can work with the likes of the housing activation office. I see this in my constituency where, if key infrastructure is funded through the housing activation office or other structures, it opens up opportunities to develop and deliver further housing supply and crucial infrastructure.

I know that when you publish a list it very quickly becomes about not just what is on the list but what is not on it. That is why I know the Minister for Transport, while welcoming the sectoral investment plan, was clear, as is all of the Government, that this is not exhaustive but it is about moving forward with some degree of clarity. There will be many further opportunities, including in relation to the TII capital plan. We will work very constructively with Laois Deputies in this House and also with the local authority.

Specifically on the issue of water and wastewater, my officials in the Department of Finance met with Uisce Éireann last week, or in the last couple of days anyway. I am certainly very satisfied from my conversations that capital funding is not now the constraint in relation to Uisce Éireann. We have provided Uisce Éireann with billions of euro in additional funding. The capacity constraint here is the planning and regulatory systems and how we can actually get things done more quickly. I will work constructively in relation to the water and wastewater projects that are needed in Laois. I also look forward to next February when the rules change to finally bring a bit of common sense and allow developers on small-scale or relatively small-scale housing developments to put in their own wastewater infrastructure. I believe this will open up huge housing opportunities in many rural towns and villages. I am happy to continue to engage and I will send on the specific projects the Deputy referenced to the relevant Ministers.

I thank the Tánaiste. There is no point in the Department of local government, under the Minister, Deputy James Browne, publishing lists like this and projecting huge growth for a county unless the infrastructure goes in along with it. I did not mention the need for health centres, schools - the courthouse in Portlaoise as well, by the way - and many other things, such as flood relief schemes, that are needed in the county. If we are going to have sustainable development, we have to take transport into account. At the moment, with regard to the N80, trucks from the west and everywhere else have to wind their way through the narrow streets of Mountmellick and around the junction at Pearse Street, Patrick Street and Market Square, which the Tánaiste saw for himself. In Portlaoise, they have to go in under the railway bridge, which they sometimes get caught under, and in by the roundabout in the centre of the town. The road from the Mountmellick Road across has to be connected with the motorway on the north-eastern side of Portlaoise.

I appeal to the Tánaiste to go back to the drawing board with this. I heard him say there may be other measures to come. There is a list on the back page of this document and, as he knows, when something is not listed on that, it is going to be a battle to do it. I ask the Tánaiste to make sure that happens and that the promises made before the election are kept.

They certainly will be. When I look at the budget that was introduced just across the Irish Sea yesterday, I am very thankful to be the Minister for Finance in a country where we are able to dramatically increase our capital investment. That did not happen by accident; it happened due to the hard work and ingenuity of the Irish people. It also happened as a result of the policies that my party, Fianna Fáil and others have delivered in government over the past several years, which have resulted in us being able to run budget surpluses, put money into future funds, increase our social welfare payments to look after pensioners, older people, carers and people with a disability, and make real differences in regard to public services too.

I note that in the Deputy's second question he expanded, understandably so, the area of projects across his county to other areas, as is appropriate. We have taken a decision to roll out a series of investment plans so there will be, in the coming days, a number of further capital plan announcements in relation to health and disability and, today, in relation to childcare. There is a very significant amount in public capital funding for State-led public childcare. This is something I talked about a lot in the election and we are determined to deliver it. We will keep in touch on Laois.