Ms Alma Walsh:

I thank the Senator for his question. It is something that was raised at our engagement in July. The background, as the Senator will be familiar with, is that the MASP boundaries and areas more generally were formed on the basis of a particular methodology that is based on the OECD definition and in particular mapping the commuter patterns within a city area where they are greater than 50%. The POWSCAR data we have from the CSO in 2016 informed the initial boundaries that were prepared for the three cities of Waterford, Limerick and Galway. The Cork city boundary had already been established as had the Dublin one prior to that. An exercise was undertaken in conjunction with officials within the regional assemblies and with the Department around preparing the MASP boundary and drafting those on the basis of that particular methodology. Further to our engagement in July, we have undertaken some further research to examine the 2022 POWSCAR data. Because of the time the census was undertaken and the certain element of lockdown associated with remote working and blended working was in force, the snapshot from the 2022 POWSCAR data indicates a contraction of some of those EDs which are now less than 50%.