Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government's national planning framework is big on presentation and was launched with great razzmatazz and gloss. However, it is short on detail and of information regarding the front-loading of investment. My home town of Drogheda is given third-tier recognition in the plan. Many people are of the opinion that this is just lip-service because it does not address what Drogheda needs. Recognition is all very well but if it is not backed up by a firm plan, commitment to funding for infrastructure implementation and a timeframe for delivery, it could well turn out like most plans and just be an aspirational document that lies on a shelf gathering dust. Without that commitment to funding for infrastructure and without timeframes for delivery, third-tier recognition adds nothing and is of no substance. A cynic might say that this was an appeasement to ward off any political backlash that local Government representatives might otherwise have gotten.

We should look at the damage done by this Government over the past seven years. My home town of Drogheda was stripped of its borough council status, its town clerk and any semblance of the power it once had. What is the point of designating Drogheda as a third-tier growth centre without defining what that actually means in real terms? Nobody seems to know. The plan certainly does not define what it means in any detail whatsoever. Drogheda has already been strategically placed and identified as part of the M1 economic corridor between Dublin and Belfast. There is not a peep in this plan about funding for Drogheda's northern cross route. There is not a peep about city status for Drogheda or about the second rail line that was promised. There is no mention of development of our port or of investment in jobs or housing. There is also no mention of investment of any sort for Drogheda or Dundalk in recognition of the fact that we are facing into Brexit and of the impact it will have on Louth as a Border county.

It is very easy to present a plan with promises for the future. One just has to look at the broadband plan which was announced and then announced again. The announcement was regurgitated and then the timeframe was extended and extended to such an extent that in many areas of the State it is still nothing more than a promise which was not delivered on. As I said at the outset, the plan is big on presentation, marketing and PR but it is short on commitments for funding, on timeframes and on implementation. I have to say that this Government has let Drogheda and County Louth down once again.

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