Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the plan is to have any real effect and if it is to plan for future development and prosperity and give areas a chance, I urge the Minister of State not alone to award city status to Drogheda, but to give it the opportunity to realise its potential and enhance the future of the town and its citizens.

People should not be invited to make submissions if there is no intention of paying heed to them or taking them on board.

The spatial strategy was that kind of document. If the Minister wants this to fall flat on its backside then he should ignore the submissions that go in and take no account of the people who live in the areas, the needs of the area and those people who are most concerned with the prosperity and future development of their towns. It will be a joke if, come 3 November, after all the submissions are in, they are ignored by the Government. As it stands it is a Government document which does not take account of local areas and submissions which have already been made.

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