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

I welcome the departmental officials and thank the joint committee for taking on board my recommendation that Drogheda be added to the national development plan. It would not have happened without the support of people like Senator Victor Boyhan. I also compliment the officials for listening to me. As they know, I do not always agree with them and vice versa, but in this case they have got it right, certainly as far as my community in Drogheda is concerned. It was not mentioned in the original plan and there was a huge public outcry locally about it. Perhaps the delegates might tell us how many representations or individual submissions were received from Drogheda. Local people, including those involved in the Drogheda City Status Group, recommended that others make their voices heard and that is what happened. Drogheda is now mentioned 11 times in the plan. The planning is correct, unlike what has happened in other areas. Planning and developing large centres of population and employment creation along the economic corridor, including, in particular, in Drogheda and Dundalk, are hugely important factors for my community. They are the two biggest towns in the country - Drogheda being the biggest - and now at the centre of the national development plan, whereas they were not included heretofore. The regional assemblies should decide what will happens in them to achieve growth and it should be based on what is contained in this framework. The regional assemblies cannot change it and must work to it. It is important that towns such as Drogheda and Dundalk be clearly earmarked for development, which process will take place through the framework.

I note from the comments of the delegates that the planning Bill which is going through the Seanad will be amended to include recognition of the plan. Will that apply to bodies such as TII, as Deputy Pat Casey mentioned? Will it apply to bodies such as Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland? Drogheda is now a growth centre for employment, whereas previously it was not. It is hugely important that the statutory or semi-state bodies dovetail their thinking on exactly what Deputy Pat Casey said. There is no point in having a plan if TII is not cognisant of it.

At the same time a capital investment plan was published which was separate from the national development plan. The key to it for Drogheda is the fact that the DART service is to be extended to the town and that the process will literally be fast-tracked with the hybrid diesel-electric trains to be used once they are delivered and electrification will then follow. That is hugely important. Capacity from Drogheda by rail is approximately 1,200 to 1,300 passengers per day, but each DART train will have the potential to carry over 1,000 passengers. The potential for growth is huge and absolute and clearly recognised in the plans published. As chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport, I offer to meet the Chairman of this committee and Deputy Pat Casey to discuss these issues. Deputies would be welcome at such a meeting, as would anyone who wanted to come along, to ensure transport planning kept pace with population growth. If it does not, we will have more frustrated people in motor cars travelling longer journeys. That is why the plan has to work.

This is a new dawn for Drogheda and County Louth. The cross-Border commitment contained within the plan will be hugely beneficial for our communities. Just over 2 million people live on this corridor and it is important that their potential be recognised. I appreciate that this is not the responsibility of the officials present, but the question arises of local government reform and recognising the change in urban population growth which will be very significant. The designation of Drogheda as a large centre of population means that we will have to change the position on local government as there is no council in place. The corporation was abolished. I know that it was done by the Government party of which I am a member after the disastrous Fianna Fáil-jled Governments which destroyed the economy.