Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 12, between lines 40 and 41, to insert the following:

"(c) the borough of Drogheda and".

I raised this matter on Second and Committee Stages. The Minister has included places such counties Meath and Kildare in the definition of the greater Dublin area but he has not included Drogheda which has developed to the extent that it is almost seamless with Dublin. I live in the northern end of the Fingal administrative area, which is quite close to Drogheda. People are aware of that.

I wish to raise another point which the Minister of State might consider in terms of including Drogheda at this stage. The people of Balbriggan, which is a massive growth area, who commute by train to Dublin city centre do so by way of the Drogheda commuter line. There is no access to the DART which stops at Malahide. The same applies to Skerries, where I live, as well as to Rush, Lusk and Donabate. The population of those areas has grown tremendously in recent years and train commuters all use the Drogheda line.

People who travel by bus from Balbriggan to the city centre have two options, but in the main they use the 101 route, which is a Bus Éireann service from Drogheda or Dundalk. I see the logic of including places like Kildare and Meath, but there is also a case to be made for Drogheda and north Fingal where commuters use the transport services to which I have referred.