Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The reason for looking for the extension to the boundary was to try to get more cohesive strategic planning within the city of Waterford and to give us proper access to develop the north side of the city. That has been a bugbear. I do recognise the greater integration and co-operative agreements between Waterford and Kilkenny local authorities. That is to be welcomed. I still think the boundary report should be reissued. I would say also that we have a second issue which is the recognition of the metropolitan boundary in Waterford city. The metropolitan boundary of Cork extends from Glanmire to Ballincollig, as the Minister knows, yet in Waterford we are not allowed to take Tramore, with over 10,000 people, into an administrative metropolitan boundary. It should extend down, in fact, to New Ross. I ask the Minister to have a look at that. It relates to nomenclature of territorial units for statistics, NUTS 3 analysis. When Government Departments are looking at funding allocations, our population comes up short. If Waterford is to be the strategic driver that the Government has within its programme for developing the south east, we need to get at least the metropolitan boundary recognised properly for what it is and have it included properly in further analysis.

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