Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

While amendment No. 5 is in my name it is grouped with amendment No. 4 and, as such, I will be speaking to both amendments.

I support the arguments made by my colleague, Deputy O'Dowd. The Labour Party amendment seeks the inclusion of "Louth" after "Wicklow" as part of the DTA area. I am a former member of the Dublin Regional Authority which had a great deal of interaction with the Mid-east Regional Authority in its attempts to bring forward serious regional planning. One of our key ambitions was the establishment of a regional transport authority which I am glad to say is finally being established.

We discovered during our discussion relating to Navan, Kells and, in particular, Dublin, that many of the issues raised, such as transport and land use planning, also affected south Louth and Drogheda, as clearly outlined by Deputy O'Dowd. There is no doubt that Drogheda is economically and, in many respects, socially and infrastructurally part of the greater Dublin area. As Deputy O'Dowd stated developments, in particular those north of the Boyne, will be profoundly affected by what happens in the rest of that region. From this point of view, it is only fair that the Louth region come within the remit of the Dublin Transport Authority.

We are seeking the inclusion of the whole of County Louth in the DTA area. The Minister on Committee Stage referred to bringing Mullingar and most of Leinster within the remit of the DTA. Obviously, power is provided in the Bill for the DTA remit to be extended, possibly into a national transport authority. Also, all services beginning and ending in the DTA area will come under the remit of the transport authority. Nonetheless, it is important that Louth be directly involved in the functioning of the DTA from the start. In the past, crazy land use planning did not include major transport infrastructural developments. Only recently, we heard a presentation on the massive metro north corridor which will run through Fingal and north of Swords. This will have a profound impact on the economic and transport structure of Fingal, east Meath and, Louth as outlined so eloquently by Deputy O'Dowd. It is critical that the people of Drogheda and Louth have an input into this through representation on the board of DTA, above all at the planning stage.

We have had great debates on decentralisation. I had many great debates with the Acting Chairman, Deputy Noel O'Flynn, about decentralisation and, in particular, the importance of developing, in economic terms, Cork city as a major counterpoint to Dublin city. I know this is a cause dear to the Acting Chairman's heart. A recent study states that despite the Government's botched programme of decentralisation we will still have massive ongoing growth in the eastern region.

A study was recently carried out by the Dublin Institute of Technology, which clearly shows that no matter what we do there will be significant growth in the Dublin-south Louth corridor. The public transport function must be properly integrated and it is, therefore, important that amendments Nos. 4 and 5 are approved by the House.

I agree with my colleague that if it is intended to extend the DTA into south Louth, we should get some indication this evening, before we have finished with these amendments, of when and how this will happen. The overall point is that on proper planning grounds and all conceivable socio-economic grounds, south Louth in particular should be part of the Dublin Transportation Authority area. That is why I will be moving amendment No. 5 on behalf of the Labour Party. This is something that is close to the hearts of my colleagues in the Louth constituency, particularly Councillor Gerald Nash of Drogheda——

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