Mr. Paul Hogan:

We are. If you are citizen of any of the cities in Ireland or large towns other than Dublin, we are talking about very significant growth for your locality. We are incredibly ambitious in suggesting that small- and medium-size cities would grow by 50% in a generation, or less. We looked at the capacity of cities to grow six years ago. We looked at the experience of Galway, which was the fastest growing city for a period, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. We reckoned that was a good model for pace, although not necessarily for all of the outcomes on the ground. We took a hard look at what the attributes of growth could and should be. It is about concentrations of activity, third level institutions, good transport links, established history and good regional catchment. That firmly suggests that regional cities have enormous potential and great capacity to grow. However, the problem is they are starting from a place much further behind Dublin in terms of scale. Therefore, we have to be realistic about what can be achieved. The strategy is a careful balance of all of that. Looking at the statistics, going back six years, we looked at the previous 20 or 30 years and it was clear that Dublin and the east were outstripping the rest of the country by about 60% or two thirds.