Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. However, I do not agree with it. He has set out what he describes as many of the ways in which the development of the area can be assisted. I have been strongly of the view for a long time and am still firmly of the view that, given the Drogheda area in general has developed in spite of some of the legislative and administrative constraints around it, given its location, and given that much of the development area has been spread across the Louth and Meath administrative areas, on the basis of good planning and sustainable development, the Government should not reject the notion that the boundary of Drogheda would be extended.

The review was published a number of months ago, and I could not quite follow the logic. Looking at the entirety of the document, the logic should that the borough boundary would be extended and the town would be of sufficient size then to enable it to be considered for city status in the context of the national planning framework. While one would understand that and expect that from the logic of the document, bizarrely, the executive summary concludes that the status quoshould remain.

As far back as the 1960s, the Buchanan report proposed the idea that Drogheda would be considered as a counterbalancing population centre for Dublin. That can still be the case because the area has developed considerably in recent years. In fact, the agglomerated urban area, as it might be described, has grown by almost 80% in 20 years. That is not withstanding the fact that it was a third tier population centre under the national spatial strategy. We should take the blinkers off and take a brave and courageous decision to ensure Drogheda can develop its potential properly by providing city status to an area where all the evidence suggests that should be the case.