Mr. Aebhric McGibney:

I can say a little on this. The national planning framework speaks about developing urban areas. There is clear evidence internationally, from the European Union and the OECD, that city regions are how businesses and economies will tend to grow in future. We absolutely support the development of other city regions. One of the challenges that came out of the most recent spatial strategy is that it means not everywhere in Ireland can be a locus or focal point for growth. However, we think that with proper planning, regions surrounding urban areas can also benefit if they are linked and connected and plugged into them. This is a solution. Deputies may not be aware that jobs are recorded by where people live. They are not recorded by where they are and when we see growth in jobs in Kildare, it is often because of people commuting on the dual carriageway to get to the M50 to be in a traffic jam. The growth in Dublin is actually supporting jobs outside it, in Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and much further afield.