Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The programme for the reform of local government under the previous Minister contained an abandoned attempt to annex part of Meath and transfer it into an enlarged Drogheda, a plan which is still being pursued by some Government backbenchers. According to leaks from a report to come before Cabinet, attacks are now being opened up on a new front, whereby the acceleration of plans for a directly elected mayor of Dublin would bequeath powers over areas in counties such as Meath, Wicklow and Kildare to the holder of such office. The Taoiseach stated that he wishes to consolidate development in the city, yet everything done by the Government, including the national development plan, NDP, and this power grab over Meath and commuter counties, shows that the Government's consolidation is more akin to a conquest in the style of the Roman empire. Will the Taoiseach assure the people of Meath that he is not Caesar, Deputy John Paul Phelan is not Maximus, the march of the Taoiseach's empire will not go beyond the multiplex cinema in Blanchardstown, the Government will respect the administrative boundaries of Meath, we will not be attacked under this Trojan horse of reform, and that councils will be restored to urban areas such as Navan, Newbridge and Bray?

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