Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important to focus on where we are at now. A national spatial plan that was developed in 2002 is defunct now. We have a lopsided, two-tier economy and a damaging over concentration of population and economic activity in the Dublin area. In Dublin, we have rising house prices, rising rents and a commuter belt currently in gridlock in terms of motorways such as the M50, which affects 100,000 people every day. Dublin is over-heating. It has 38% of the population of the State. By contrast, London has about 13% of the population of Britain. It is likely that Dublin is heading towards a population of 50% of the State under current growth patterns, which would mean that this State would become a city state, with one city and the rest of the island depopulating to service that city. That imbalance helps nobody.

The Minister launched a document last week. We wish her well with it but when we consider the gravity and the magnitude of developments spatially in the past year, it will not do anything to address those issues. What projects of significance will the Government get involved in to address that issue?

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