Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Moran is calling the shots to keep this Fine Gael Government in power, and at any cost, it seems. Heretofore, Tullamore, Mullingar and Athlone were gateway towns, a development which had been ignored by Governments for the past ten years. Those Governments were happy to appoint them as gateway towns, and to promise money that was going to lead to large scale development in those towns instead of in Dublin. That never happened. The Boxer has prioritised Athlone as a new city under the national planning framework proposal.