Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome the publication of the spatial strategy. I echo the comment by Senator Wilson that it is probably one of the most important documents to be published in recent years. However, it is a pity it is at least ten years late. The pace of development has been so fast in the past ten years in some parts of the country, particularly in Dublin, that fundamental mistakes have been made in the absence of planning which will be difficult to reverse.

As regards the identification of hubs, gateways and connected hubs, it seems that whoever made the decision suggested areas which are already becoming hubs. The document is following areas, rather than identifying them. I cite the example of Mullingar, Athlone and Tullamore which have improved greatly in recent years due to excellent foresight and development by local authorities and industry. Instead of moving forward, the spatial plan seems to be going backwards. The thinking behind it is skewed and there are major issues about its implementation. However, I compliment those who worked on it because it is an extremely valuable document in terms of the level of research, the presentation of the material and the information it contains.

The spatial plan should be studied with another document I received this week, the preliminary census. While preparing for this debate, I studied the figures for population increase and the identification of hubs and gateways. We are all aware that the major population increase in recent years has been in the greater Dublin area. The population in Kildare and Meath increased by more than one fifth between 1996 and 2002. The population in Westmeath increased by 13.8%, in Wexford by 11.7%, in Laois by 10.9%, in Louth by 10.5% and in Carlow by 10.2%. That reflects a widening of the Dublin commuter belt beyond Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. That supports my argument that the extraordinary population increase in these areas has happened on an ad hoc basis. The houses and estates have been built and people are living in them and commuting to Dublin. We will not change that by publishing a spatial plan. However, will we make it any better? How will we make it better?