Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials here today. I am afraid I cannot be as glowing in my comments as my colleague, Senator Boyhan. It is a very fine production with nice photographs. However, from my point of view and specifically in the context of Drogheda, my political enemies had smiles on their faces when they read this document and indeed, they have attacked it in the press. Some of the issues raised cause me concern.

In an effort to be constructive, I would say that the last spatial strategy was a joke. It did not work and was a disaster in terms of development all over the country. I welcome this attempt to have proper spatial and regional planning. The first issue I have is with the absence of maps. I would like to see maps because they go to the heart of what I want to say. I live in a place called Drogheda which is bounded on the south by County Meath. There is a huge amount of development in Drogheda and it is the core town, if not city, for a lot of activity including shopping, education, transport and so forth. It is a huge hub for everybody but it is not even mentioned as a town in the plan. The Department maintains that the plan is dealing with the cities. However, the population of Drogheda is in excess of 43,000 based on the historic boundaries used by the Department and we believe that the real population is of city size. Even at this moment in time Drogheda is larger than Galway city was when it was designated as a city. The key issue for us in Drogheda is that we are not considered to be a city but we ought to be. We have all of the infrastructural needs of a city but do not even have a proper town council. I know the Minister is addressing that and it has nothing to do with the current Administration, whatever about the last one.

We need to have greater clarity about what is happening in places like Drogheda. Some of Drogheda falls within the north west region, while the southern part of it falls within the Greater Dublin Area, GDA. The GDA runs to the river Boyne so theoretically one half of our town is in the GDA while the other half is not. Drogheda needs special status within this planning process. I have had a quick word with the Minister and I understand that the process is fixed in terms of time. It is important that the Department would look at this again. I know that submissions can be made up until 3 November. I ask that the Department think again about the future of Drogheda and east Meath, which are separate political entities in terms of local government. There is a lack of adequate and proper planning for future development. I do not expect the Minister to give me an answer on this today but we will make strong submissions on this issue.

I welcome the part of the plan which refers to the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor, which is hugely important. It is also important that we are thinking in North-South terms as well about the 26 counties. I also note and welcome the references to developing the critical mass of the Newry, Dundalk area to compete with other larger cities. However, I would like Drogheda to be included in that, either as a linear city with Dundalk and Newry or, alternatively, within a redefined GDA. We must look at the relationship between Drogheda, east Meath and Balbriggan, for example. We need to think outside the box for that area because the development of Dublin has led to phenomenal growth in Drogheda. It is now the largest town in Ireland and needs to be looked at in its totality in the context of the final stage of this plan. I do not expect the Minister to give me answers today but wish to make him aware of those problems. I also ask that his officials would take these issues on board.