Gerald Nash (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming into the Chamber this afternoon to respond to me on this important issue. It is not just an important issue for Drogheda but also for the entire north east region, the region that the Minister of State himself represents .

A month ago this week I sat down to pour over the draft of the national planning framework. This, as we are all aware, is the successor plan to the redundant and discredited national spatial strategy, which was published in the early 2000s. Across this glossy 150 page production from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, there is not one single mention of Drogheda, which is by far Ireland's largest town. It is a very considerable achievement to draft a high-level document which will dictate on a statutory basis where jobs will be, where public services investment will go and where infrastructural development will be directed - for an entire generation - and fail to acknowledge even once the scale, size, population and, importantly, the potential of what is Ireland's contiguous population centre. The population of the Drogheda borough area itself has been confirmed by the Central Statistics Office in the last census in 2016 as being in excess of 43,000, and the extension of the borough boundary into County Meath, which I proposed, would include an additional 6,000 to 7,000 people at least. They are people who are living in housing estates in the area known as Drogheda, County Meath. In some cases, services are being delivered on one side of the road by Louth County Council and on the other by Meath County Council. That is an entirely inefficient way to do business. The agglomerated urban area of Drogheda is already larger than Waterford city, and it is important to point out that the population of the area now far exceeds the population of Galway when that city was given city status back in the 1980s. This draft plan represents a golden opportunity to do the right thing for once in this country, when it comes to policy development. It goes without saying that I love my hometown - I know the Minister of State loves his as well - and I want to see it reach its full potential.

Leaving those emotions aside just for a moment, I have always taken decisions based on robust evidence, as I hope my record in public life proves. All the available evidence allows us to present a very strong case for the town of Drogheda to be designated as a city. The way to advance this ambition is through the national planning framework process. Yet bizarrely, if the Government's proposals are adopted, the Drogheda area will now be lumped in with areas of a population size equivalent to Wicklow town - meaning no disrespect to Wicklow Town - or Tramore, or the 40 other population centres in this country ranked in excess of 10,000.

I am not asking for a favour, or making a special plea, for my home town and the area I directly represent. I am asking the Government to show that it is serious about transparent policy-making and accepting the evidence before it. I am asking that Drogheda takes its rightful place among the hierarchy of first-tier population centres, and is enabled to be the city that it can and should be.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator, and call on the Minister, Deputy Damien English.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I thank Senator Gerald Nash for raising the issue. I wish to address it by taking two approaches, referring first to the local government legislation, and then to the final consultation of the national planning framework, which is at draft stage. I have read the Senator's submission to that consultation, as have many others. It is important to say that up to 3 November, people can make submissions and involve themselves in the process, which the Senator and many others have done.

The Local Government Act 2001, as amended, currently provides for three city councils, in Cork, Dublin and Galway. If an additional city council were to be established in law, it would have significant implications for the county in which the area concerned is situated, in particular as regard the loss of functions of the relevant county council. If the Local Government Act was to be amended to designate Drogheda as a city, this would have wide-ranging legal, financial, organisational and electoral implications, not only for Louth County Council, but also for Meath County Council, as it would be difficult to consider establishing a city authority without incorporating the County Meath environment. I acknowledge that Senator Nash has referenced this.

Drogheda has developed significantly in recent years, with a population of almost 41,000 at the 2016 census. It is by no means clear that fragmentation of local government structures and resources in County Louth would be helpful to the continuation of that success. However, that is a decision under the Act that the Government looked at, and can be looked at again in the future.

I refer now to the national planning framework, NPF, and what we are trying to achieve there. The Government has published Ireland 2040 as a final public consultation draft national planning framework. Taking on board the submissions received, it is intended to finalise the national planning framework later this year, probably in December. The NPF will encourage large towns such as Drogheda, as well as Navan, Sligo, Dundalk, Wicklow and others, to grow more than the national average up to 2040, within the context of regional planning policies, to be expanded on through the regional spatial and economic strategy that is being prepared for each of the three regional assemblies and scheduled for completion by the end of 2018. I am meeting the regional assemblies on Friday to discuss this draft plan and to get their views. The regional strategy will be brought forward in 2018, which again is another place to have this conversation and this debate.

Key factors to be taken into account in framing these growth policies include the location of towns relative to city-region catchments; the scale of employment provision and net commuting flows; the accessibility of economic influence; the extent of local services, administration, education, particularly at third level, health, leisure and retail; the extent of the interdependencies or linkages between towns; and the commitment to, and the realisable prospects for, compact and sustainable growth. What we are trying to achieve here is to ensure regional balance. I agree with the Senator that areas like Drogheda, Navan and Dundalk did not get just positioning in the 2002 spatial strategy and have not been developed in a proper way because of that. What we are trying to achieve with Ireland 2040 is to develop in a sustainable way to make sure that services, as well as the jobs and everything else, match the population of all our towns and villages.

As well as alignment with the ten-year national investment plan being prepared by the Department of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, the national planning framework proposes an urban smart growth fund, new requirements for new urban area plans across administrative boundaries, as well as supporting the sustainable economic potential of the Dublin-Belfast corridor, of which Drogheda is a key urban component. I want to be very clear that we do focus in on those administrative boundary areas, such as the Meath-Drogheda boundary, and it is very complicated. The commission did recommend that we find new ways to be able to deliver services and to make decisions such as planning on those areas around those boundary areas as well. That is what we are trying to realise in the national planning framework, that we would have local authorities working together more closely around that process.

Taking all of the foregoing together, the policies and proposals contained in the draft national planning framework will support the development of Ireland's larger towns such as Drogheda, which has developed strongly in recent years within the existing local government structures and arrangements. The national planning framework is to help Drogheda realise its potential and not to restrict it in any way. I know the Senator has a concern that it is restrictive. It is not. Places such as Drogheda will flourish more under the new national planning framework. Again, it is only at draft stage. Final decisions have not been made and the closing date for submissions is 3 November, so I encourage all interested parties, including Members of this House, to share their views and comments by the closing date. I believe there will be a discussion in both House of the Oireachtas on the national planning framework. It is being discussed at the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. Last week we had a frank discussion, and colleagues such as Deputy Fergus O'Dowd and others from my own area made the same arguments that Senator Nash is making about Drogheda. Again, this will be teased out over the next couple of months as well.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister. I call Senator Nash for a supplementary.

Gerald Nash (Labour)
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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.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. I call the Minister of State for his response.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I again take on board the views of Senator Nash again. The national planning framework is still only at draft stage. We purposely stayed away from naming new cities or new large towns. This is about trying to plan this country in a sustainable way and to realise the potential of all these larger towns, be they Drogheda, Navan, Sligo, Athlone, Dundalk or Mullingar, by giving them the resources they need in a planned and sustainable way. Through the national planning framework, we will have to cater for an extra 1 million people living in this country and 8 million people living on the island as a whole. We have to cater for an extra 600,000 jobs and an extra 500,000 houses. The question is how we plan and grow that in the existing cities and large towns.There is a lot of potential here for Drogheda and we want to realise that through the national planning framework and I hope that is what we can achieve as well.