A cross-party group of TDs has told crowd of over 300 people that it will fight to have the draft submission of the National Planning Framework (NPF) revised by the government.

The group, made up of Independent TD for Roscommon, Michael Fitzmaurice, Labour TD Alan Kelly, Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cúiv and Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny, assert that the draft plan for the NPF puts too much emphasis on the future of Irish cities at the cost of rural Ireland.

Collectively we are going to fight

The draft planning framework, under consideration by ministers this week, sets a target of 50% population growth in Ireland's four major cities by 2040, compared with just 15% in rural areas.

“This plan is equally as bad for Dublin as it is for rural areas, this plan isn’t ambitious enough,” Deputy Kelly said, speaking at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, Co Roscommon on Monday night.

“The north-west of Ireland might as well not exist, and the midlands will suffer in this scenario.

“Collectively we are going to fight with the Oireachtas colleagues here tonight, to ensure that the Government listens to us.”

Deputy Kelly also went on to highlight that the plan only treated Dublin airport as its core access point, and completely ignored regional airports like Knock, which could follow the example of Shannon airport in creating a hub of industry and development.

It’s not a hand-out we want, no one ever wants that, it’s a hand-up

“There is representation from 14 different counties here tonight, that tells its own story. We’re not opposed to plans, we want to make them better,” Deputy Fitzmaurice told the crowd.

“It’s not a hand-out we want, no one ever wants that, it’s a hand-up.

“You can have cities, you can have towns and you can also have a rural Ireland

“Do people not appreciate the €1bn every month in exports from agriculture?

“We’re prepared to meet with the minister and we have met with Minister [Damien] English already. We are not obstructive,” Deputy Fitzmaurice said.

The meeting began at 8pm and continued well into the night, with a series of concerned citizens taking to the floor after the TD presentations, to express their concern over the proposed NPF plans.

One woman stated that she had “exported” three children, with another with “a foot on the plane”, and was speaking as a mother who just wanted to find a way to provide jobs to bring her children home.

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Cities to grow three times faster than countryside under Government plan

Download the draft National Planning Framework