we come in," he said. Of the four air conditioning units he was running, he has already gotten rid of one.

Down the street from Hernandez's home, 72-year-old David Allen White is also a disabled veteran. In his case, air conditioning wasn't the problem. He was dealing with a persistent leak problem with his roof.

Kathryn Boyd-Batstone / Rivard Report

David Allen White stands in front of his white roofed house. Photo by Kathryn Boyd-Batstone.

"I had it fixed a couple of times," White said. "(The repairman) found some loose shingles and replaced them. Then it developed a leak again."

White was told by the same repairman that the problem wouldn't be fixed until the elevation of the roof was raised. He quoted $10,000 for the job.

"The roof was too flat and heplan seeks to ensure that rather than having excessive population growth focused on Dublin - as is the current trend - that 75% of all population growth will occur in the rest of the country.

It targets a level of growth in the northern, western and southern regions, combined to at least match that projected for the east and midland regions.

Project Ireland 2040:

Dublin Airport will get a second runway at a cost of €320m.

Regional airports such as Knock and Donegal will also get increased investment.

A Metro-Link connecting Swords and Sandyford via Dublin Airport is set to be delivered by 2027 at a cost of €3 billion.

The DART will be extended to run to Drogheda and Maynooth.

It was also announced that €4.5bn will be invested in regional and local roads,