Mr. Des Foley:

I will deal with that question. Regarding the first point, we will have further discussions with the Department on the draft pre-appraisal report. We will follow through on the aspects mentioned previously, including the origin and destination survey that needs to be done and the public transport elements of the report that need further analysis. We can certainly do that. We will get into early discussions, following this meeting, with our colleagues in the Department to try to finalise those elements of the report. Turning to the further development of Drogheda and east Meath, Meath County Council has started working on a review of the county development plan for the next six years. The councillors will be getting briefings on this process soon.

I will give some details of our population projections, starting with Drogheda. It is recognised as a regional growth centre in the national planning framework. Our current population figures indicate that Drogheda has a population of 41,000 people. That is set to increase to 50,000 people by 2031. The current population of east Meath is 11,800 people. The county development plan sets out a policy of consolidation there. By 2026, the lifetime of this new county development plan, the population projection for east Meath is 13,300 people. There will, therefore, be some growth. The main emphasis, however, will be on consolidation.