Brendan Ryan (Labour)

During the part of the debate on the 2008 Act that pertained to the consideration of the greater Dublin area and the desirability of looking at Dublin in isolation, I argued there was a problem with leaving out towns and localities such as Drogheda and County Louth, which were not included in the greater Dublin area. Drogheda and its environs, as well as mid-Louth, are very much part of the greater Dublin area, albeit not strictly within the scope of the 2008 Act. The Fine Gael amendments certainly would address this issue, which the Minister then refused to take up on my behalf. Consequently, I support the Fine Gael amendments on the basis that they would address this anomaly.