Mr. Eugene Cassidy:

I will let Barry Lynch answer that but I would like to raise an issue specific to Meath which is, after all, in the greater Dublin area. While Meath is one county, it is, to all intents and purposes, divided in two. The south of the county has more in common with Dublin, while the north of the county has more in common with Cavan. In the south of the county, Shire and Facebook set up operations in the past year or so. That is great, but companies such as those to which I refer are never going to establish facilities in the north of the county. This gives rise to conflict as regards funding in areas like Kells and the rest of the county north of Navan because while that part of the county is 100% rural, it is deemed to be part of the greater Dublin area because it is in Meath. The north is the poor part of the county and Kells, for example, will never be an Ashbourne, a Ratoath or a Navan. That is a major issue that must be addressed going forward. The north will never have a Shire or a Facebook but it needs to look to its strengths, which are heritage and tourism. That is what it should be focusing on and pushing.

I have been working on a greenway project for the past six years. The greenway in Mayo was mentioned but I have been working on the 36 km Boyne Valley to Lakelands County Greenway, which will actually come into Kingscourt. A feasibility report has been done, full planning permission has been granted, the detailed design statement is done and the tender documents for the first phase have been prepared. The business case shows that the greenway will cost €2.4 million but will generate €5.9 million in the local economy per annum. That business case was not pulled out of the blue but is the same as that used for the Great Western Greenway, based on a 20 km radius of the greenway and 245,000 people. The business case did not take into consideration Meath's close proximity to Dublin because the aim was to compare like with like. In terms of the strengths of the north of the county, tourism is the main one. This greenway could be a game changer for north Meath as well as Cavan.

I will let Mr. Barry Lynch respond to the question on spatial planning.