Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The Minister has repeated the argument made about the problem with the structure of the regional authorities. Will this continue into the future with regard to the BMW region? After the Lisbon treaty referendum, perhaps there will be a new battle covering the entire country in the next round of Structural Fund grants at European level.

The Drogheda area is expanding at a colossal rate and many are dependent on public transport to get to Dublin. Some Members may make this connection this evening, as they did this morning. Trains passing through Balbriggan tend to be packed. It seems wrong-headed to exclude the important growing city of Drogheda and the south County Louth region from the essential redevelopment that will take place in the Dublin region. Perhaps the entire county should be included. My colleague from Sinn Féin mentioned the commuter belt. If one looks at the map, one will see that the Minister's county has a small coastline. County Louth almost touches the Dublin county boundary, yet it is the only such county not to be included. It is not as though County Meath has a coastline of 50 miles — the reality is that County Louth is in the same position as Couinty Wicklow and west and south Kildare. We should reconsider this aspect of the Bill.

The Minister mentioned sections 63 and 54 which grant him important powers. At what stage will he be able to initiate a process to allow borough councils or local authorities in the County Louth region, if they express an interest, to come within the remit of the DTA? How can this be facilitated? When I represented the Dublin mid-east regional authority, we had close connections with County Louth, although it was not a member of our organisation.

See this speech in context