This is laughable.
Its not critical for an individual living in the north west of the country that has no access to a motorway or rail in order to travel to dublin.
I would argue that infrastrutural improvements in the north west are critical for the north west and Ireland as a whole.
What a redundant form of debate. I'll deal with the tangible benefits in a second but urban locations subsidise rural. Yes rural areas provide certain tangible benefits a city never can, but there is an absolute that populations have become more urban and that is where activity tends to lie. In Ireland we are heavily reliant on the success of Dublin and Cork (for example) - the tax receipts and redistribution alone show this. And before the "balanced regional" types come in, this is not unusual internationally. Secondly, Ireland 2040 already has massive redistribution on infrastrucutre and Dublin will continue to be under invested in relative to its needs under the plan. This follows decades of Government policy in Ireland that was inherently anti urban and gave up the goodies to making everyone a little less grumbly.
That said, I don't begrudge that under Ireland 2040 the north west is getting more funding per capita or that it happens annually with taxes. It has to. That's society.
The thinking of "where is my train or motorway to Dublin" is pretty funny though. People from outside Dublin conceive it as somewhere they take a trip to for a match or concert or even going to the Airport, not a living and breathing place with actual needs.
In terms of the direct benefits, I'll tell you what they are. By removing PSO and bus reliance in Dublin, we can subsidise other places more. Dublin does not need as many PSO routes as it has. It has them because the urban environment is constrained in terms of how it copes with the the economic demands of the capital
and the State. With MetroLink going to be autonomous (buses may ultimately be, I don't know, but they won't ever carry the same number of passangers), we will have on day one a profitable service that removes the need for many buses in the capital. This is good for all, including good for local communities.