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

I want to refer to the White Paper we received today. This is an entirely new section of the Bill and we have not had an opportunity to discuss it, or even to see it, until this evening. I want to talk about issues that arise from it and expand upon views about which the people who vote for me feel strongly.

I welcome the principle of what the Minister of State is bringing in. He is bringing in directly elected mayors of certain local authorities, or combinations of them. I will just talk about my own area of County Louth. I have looked at the figures for population growth in the last census and, outside of the areas mentioned in these new sections, plus Dublin, the next largest town in the country is where I live in Drogheda. That is followed by Swords, Dundalk, Bray, Navan and Kilkenny. There are new changes in local government and I recognise the Minister of State has support of Members from Cork and other places for what he is doing. I accept and acknowledge that it will not be possible in this Bill to get the outcome I want, but the Minister of State can start the process by master-planning for areas like Drogheda where there has been significant growth over the past number of years. People may argue about the size of towns. If, however, one compares the population of Waterford city, 53,504, with that of Drogheda, approximately 42,000, one discovers that they are relatively close.

People want to be in control of their own local destiny. Whatever decisions are made in places like Cork, and I have no issue with that, the people in south Louth, where I live, want to control their future. Drogheda and Dundalk are major towns. Drogheda is the sixth largest town in the country and Dundalk is the eighth largest. These are huge urban areas. The population of each is greater than the populations of Leitrim and Longford. I am not arguing for changes in those counties. They have their county managers or chief executives, the relevant infrastructure, etc., but Drogheda, the populations of which is greater than those counties, does not have that and will not get it under this legislation. I ask the Minister of State to comment on this aspect.

The Minister of State might consider a master plan that includes Drogheda, the sixth largest town in Ireland, through the urban renewal generation fund, or whatever other mechanism he can find, to fund, control and plan for proper and accountable local government in that area. The problem that will then arise is with the area contiguous to Drogheda in County Meath. There are different views on this. The general population of east Meath, Drogheda and the greater Drogheda area is in excess of 80,000 and yet there is no definitive one-stop shop for administration there. The Minister of State's second tranche of amendments will probably cover some of this.

I am asking the Minister of State to come back on Report Stage, or any other appropriate time, to look at the master-planning for areas like Drogheda which need to be in control of their destiny. They have the population and urban pressure. They have infrastructural deficits that need to be addressed and which were not addressed in the latest round of funding from the Department. I am not blaming the Minister of State for that and I will take the matter up with the officials later. Would the Minister of State consider that as a constructive way of engaging with a significant need?

Finally, the spread of the greater Dublin area, GDA, is highlighted by all of those large towns, almost all of which are on the east coast adjacent to Dublin city. They all face significant pressures that are not being dealt with. Certainly, the existing local government infrastructure neither meets nor is accountable to the needs of their population.