Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Drogheda is the largest conurbation in the country that is not a city. According to data released by the Central Statistics Office, Drogheda has a population of more than 40,000. It is a huge area. The population of Drogheda is larger than the populations of a significant number of counties. Outside the main cities, Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland. It is bigger than Dundalk. It does not have a local council, however. It has what is known as a municipal district, which has a weak milk-and-water focus and no power. The municipal district can talk, but it has no power. The fact is that power resides in the county council, which happens to be based in Dundalk but which could be based anywhere in County Louth. This is not a speech about Dundalk versus Drogheda. It is about the need for decisions to be made where the people are. Decisions should be made where they effect the greatest number of people. Those who live in a town should have control over decisions on what is going to happen there. Competent and qualified officials should have the requisite status and power to make administrative decisions in cases of reserved functions of officials.

I am aware that the first visit made by the Minister of State when he took up his portfolio was to Drogheda. He saw at first hand how important the town is, how much it has grown and what are its needs. It is unacceptable that a town the size of Drogheda - some people would call it a city - does not have the authority equivalent to its size. It should have an individual with the same authority and powers as a city or county manager. The name is not relevant. I would like to mention Galway city as an example in this context. Galway had a population of 38,000 when it went from being a town to being a city. Drogheda exceeds that significantly right now. I suggest that the criteria which applied when Galway was made a city some decades ago should now apply to places like Drogheda and Dundalk that have experienced phenomenal growth and have been designated as significant regional growth centres on the economic corridor between Belfast and Dublin.

During this legislative process, when he is deciding what should happen, the Minister of State should bear in mind that the CSO has informed me that the population of Drogheda will reach 50,000 by 2022 or 2023. That will be after the next census is taken. When Drogheda reaches the 50,000 milestone, it will meet the European and international designation of a city. The first thing that needs to be done by the Department and the Government is to recognise that this will happen. That happened to some extent when Drogheda was given its status as a regional growth centre. The second thing that needs to be done is to prepare for that. I understand that when Galway was made a city, the manager of the county of Galway was also designated as the city manager for Galway. That helped to ease the administrative process. Therefore, I suggest that the existing CEO of Louth County Council should now be designated as the manager of Drogheda. This would ensure continuity of management. When that person moves on, as everybody does, a new person should be appointed as the city manager of the urban conurbation of Drogheda. That is what happened in Galway and I think that is what should happen in Drogheda. In the interim, it is important that key planning, housing and administrative functions that have an impact on Drogheda and are administered locally would be subject to local decision-making. They should be based locally in the town. If the officials whom members of the public might want to meet were available in the local council offices, people would not have to travel to Dundalk. They could have their needs met at the local council office in Drogheda.

I mentioned a key part of the preparation for city status at a committee meeting that the Minister of State kindly attended some time ago. The growth that has happened up to now has been recognised. Additional administrative personnel need to be put in place in key areas to care for the town of Drogheda. They should be based locally. Obviously, they would be accountable to the county council in the short term - the local elections are next June - but they would ultimately become the officials of the new city of Drogheda. That would be a welcome and important development and would meet the town's key growth needs. As I have said, the population of Drogheda is 40,000 at present. Planning has been granted in respect of 7,000 extant applications in the northern environs of Drogheda. This means that two or three years from now, 7,000 new homes will have been built or will be in the course of being built in the town. This will add to the existing population in Drogheda. If we assume that three or four people will live in each of these 7,000 houses, we can estimate that an additional 20,000 people will be living locally. I am not including in any of my commentary the parts of east Meath that adjoin the town of Drogheda. I see a very hard and hearty Deputy for County Meath looking at me.

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