Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the pace of growth of Drogheda. There is a series of reasons for that growth, including its proximity to Dublin and to international connections through Dublin Airport and the fact that it has provided an affordable option for home buyers. It has also built a big economy in its own right and is a regional driver in its own right. However, I do not think the solution here is to recreate city councils, even in cities like Waterford and Limerick, where we have now created City and County Councils. That said, there is merit in looking at how Drogheda as a town is managed and by whom. At the moment, a significant proportion of the population is in one county, managed by the local authority in Meath, while the rest of the town, the majority of which is in County Louth, is managed by a different local authority. In those circumstances, it is very difficult to plan strategically, in terms of business, community development, planning and zoning, commercial rates and so on, for the expansion of a town that may at some point in the future become a city when there are two local authorities involved. I have made a clear decision on the boundary issues of Waterford and Kilkenny. We are not changing county boundaries there because there are all sorts of emotions involved in a decision like that. There are flags, GAA clubs, history and so on involved and asking a Kilkenny person to become a Waterford person or Louth person to become a Meath person will not work politically. However, we need to be able to re-evaluate governance structures to ensure that towns and urban conurbations can actually be managed as single entities in the context of their expansion. That is the context in which we need to look at the future of Drogheda.

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