Wexford has half the amount of infrastructure investment that our counterparts in Europe have

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has called for the establishment of a Rural Ireland Investment Taskforce that would identify infrastructure projects for investment in the South East…

Ireland South MEP Candidate, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, has pointed to independent figures from the EU Regional Competitiveness Index which show that historic investment in infrastructure in the Southern region is running at half of that of comparative regions in the rest of Europe. She noted that Wexford has half the amount of investment in infrastructure than comparative areas within the EU, despite having two sitting MEP’s located in the South East for the past five years.

Ní Mhurchú has called for a sustained investment programme at national and EU level in infrastructure projects in Wexford and the wider South East area as she claims the figures reveal a severe infrastructure deficit which is well below the average for the European regions.

On the other hand, the figures in the EU Regional Competitiveness Index show that Dublin has more than average investment in infrastructure, roads, airports and broadband, when compared to comparative cities in Europe.

According to Ní Mhurchú, much of the deficit is due to a failure to tap into existing EU funds in Brussels:

“We have not been investing in infrastructure in the South East at the same rate that our EU neighbours have been investing in their regions of a similar status. In the Southern counties our competitiveness ranks 94th of the 234 regions in the EU competitiveness study. Dublin ranks at 24th. For too long, we have tolerated chronic under-investment in regional infrastructure in the South East and it is leading to a very imbalanced economy where Dublin is leading the growth. We need southern cities like Waterford, Limerick and Cork to act as a counter balance to Dublin. There needs to be a whole new focus on investing in our rural roads, regional airports, broadband and port infrastructure”

Ní Mhurchú has again called for the immediate funding of Waterford airport to counterbalance Dublin airport and has again called on Minister Eamonn Ryan to stop blocking progress at Waterford airport. She has described it as a critical project for the South East.

Ní Mhurchú has called for the establishment of a Rural Ireland Investment Taskforce that would identify infrastructure projects for investment in the South East which would include our regional airports, ports, key roads, broadband and other vital infrastructure.

According to Ní Mhurchú, a taskforce is needed in the South Eastern region.

“There are key EU funds which we are not tapping into enough, such as the Connecting Europe Fund, the Horizon Europe Fund and the Just Transition fund. We need a task force comprised of key stakeholders in the South Eastern Region to identify projects that will bring our infrastructure up to par with our European neighbours and Dublin. It cannot all be about Dublin.