The Opposition yesterday criticised the long delay in producing the National Spatial Strategy, saying the cuts in public spending cast doubt on whether it can be implemented.
Fine Gael accused the Government of policy incoherence, saying one Department was trying to develop towns "while the other is trying to dismantle the infrastructure. It is clear that somebody forgot to tell the Transport Minister about the Spatial Strategy as all the evidence indicates that the Government does not know what each arm of the State is doing," according to the party's transport spokesman, Mr Denis Naughten.
"The strategy proposes to develop Sligo, Galway, Ennis, Shannon and Limerick, but the Minister for Transport has given Irish Rail the green light in the last fortnight to pull up the line. Even the new motorways serving some of these new hubs have been shelved by Minister Brennan for a further three years.
"The midland triangle of Mullingar, Athlone and Tullamore, for example, doesn't even have a decent road connecting the towns," Mr Naughten went on, and the NRA stated it had no funding available to develop secondary roads. "Ballina/Castlebar have a first-class rail line connecting them but no train service, and no plans to provide any. One must ask, what exactly do this Government think they are doing?"
Labour said it would give specific responses to proposals in the strategy in a few days, but called for an immediate Dáil debate on it.
The party's environment spokesman, Mr Éamon Gilmore, accused the Government of timing the publication of the strategy deliberately to avoid a Dáil debate. "This document was finalised by cabinet three weeks ago. The Government is now publishing the document today, on the last Dáil sitting day before Budget week.
"This is clearly intended to avoid a Dáil debate on a major policy document which has enormous potential for internal differences and unease in the Government parties." He said the document had been in preparation for five years and its publication was at least three years overdue.
The Green Party described the strategy as "a road builder's charter", saying it failed to invest in rail services.
The party's environment spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, claimed the strategy "envisages the downgrading and closure of rail services and fails to provide a rail link between the Border, midlands and western regions.
"The Greens believe that Ireland's rail network should be used as a basis for informing the locations of significant new development over the next 20 years - not evident in this strategy. Rather than this sole emphasis on motorway building, which will inevitably draw more economic life towards Dublin, the Greens want to invest in a radical new public transport system which will spread growth across Ireland."
Mr Cuffe also said the strategy failed to tackle the problem of climate change, a problem which had contributed to "the horrendous flooding and damage of recent weeks. There is also a fudge on the issue of one-off housing, and it appears that suburban sprawl will continue around the greater Dublin area."
Sinn Féin deputy, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, said the publication of the plan was welcome but overdue, and he warned cuts in spending would make it unworkable. "The strategy will be unworkable if the Government proceeds with the policies signalled in the Book of Estimates."
He said: "Cuts in spending on roads, public transport, housing and job creation are rendering the National Development Plan null and void. And without the development plan the spatial strategy is meaningless. It is an indictment of successive governments that this strategy is only being produced now. It should have been produced before the development plan and could have guided development during the Celtic Tiger years."