Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach agus an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for coming in to listen to this today.

As someone born and raised in Drogheda, I speak not only as a Senator here today but as a proud daughter of a place that has outgrown the soubriquet of Ireland's largest town and now needs to be made Ireland's next city.For far too long Drogheda has been spoken about as though it were still a provincial town on the edge of Dublin. That really does not reflect reality. It has a population in excess of 50,000, but combined with its natural hinterland in east Meath we are talking about a population of about 80,000. Drogheda is already larger than the city of Waterford and is close to overtaking Galway and Limerick within a decade based on current growth trends, yet it still does not have city status or a single local authority.

In 2014, during the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition, Drogheda lost its borough council and, with it, meaningful local decision-making. That was a turning point. From that moment on, Drogheda began to grow rapidly but its ability to plan and manage that growth was taken away. We now find ourselves governed by two local authorities, Louth County Council and Meath County Council, from two distant towns. That division is failing the people I represent where I live. We are falling between the two proverbial stools because we have two councils and two development plans, but one urban population with no unified strategy. It is entirely unsustainable. The consequences are felt every day by people living there, by businesses and by workers. Parents cannot find school places for their children, not only at secondary school level but also increasingly at primary level. The young couples who are buying the many houses that we are building in new estates expect basic public transport, but buses are overcrowded and the rail service is beyond capacity. A second railway station, on the north side of the town, is now imperative. Workers commuting from Drogheda face daily gridlock on local roads that were never designed for the scale of development that we are now seeing in our town, which is soon to be a city. GP practices are full, waiting lists are growing, and sports clubs and community groups are squeezed to breaking point because facilities have not kept pace with population growth.

This is what happens when an area grows like a city but is governed like a small town. Despite this, Drogheda has not given up. In recent months, we have seen real progress. Millions of euro have been secured for town centre regeneration. The living city initiative has finally been extended to Drogheda to unlock the vital investment we need and to restore life into our heritage buildings, which I hope the Minister of State will see next month. The port access northern cross route is opening new potential for expansion and jobs on the north side. This is the vision in Drogheda. There is ambition and there is real momentum but we cannot deliver long-term progress while trapped in the wrong governance structure. If we are serious about balanced regional development, we must recognise that Drogheda’s role is the future of this country. We stand on the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor, which is the most strategically important growth axis on this island. If Ireland is to develop sustainably, it needs strong cities beyond Dublin and Drogheda is poised to be one of those.

City status is not about prestige; it is about planning, proper investment and accountability. It needs a single authority with responsibility for housing, infrastructure, transport, education, planning and economic development. This means fair funding, including access to urban regeneration funding for schemes like the West Gate vision we have coming down the road. It means a governance model that matches the scale of the population it serves. Therefore, I am proposing that the Government establish a Drogheda city status task force to produce a road map to full city status within 12 months. It must be cross-departmental, must engage with both local authorities and must be driven by facts, not political hesitation. It is time to give Ireland’s largest town the status, structure and support it needs. It is time to make Drogheda the country’s next city.