Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

This will have a detrimental effect on smaller towns which want to develop. There is a hierarchy of towns. I come from a county with two hub towns - Castlebar and Ballina. Those towns will have to grow to the projected populations to the detriment of smaller towns. Unless the hub town reaches the projected population, nothing will happen to the smaller ones in regard to water and sewerage schemes. Some of the smaller towns require their treatment plants to be upgraded or require pipelines and treatment plants. This measure will be to the detriment of less populated areas.

As Senator Coffey said, the CSO figures are static and, in some cases, they have fallen. We should look seriously at this measure as it will affect development. Rural counties such as County Mayo need smaller towns to develop if we want to build infrastructure for buses and a proper bus service between smaller towns and the larger hubs. We need a certain population in smaller towns to enable them to grow and make services such as shops viable. It is fine to let the centres grow but it should not be at the expense of the smaller towns. As Senator Coffey said, CSO figures are down.