Sinn Féin has hit out at the Government after it failed to include Balbriggan in its Draft National Planning Framework.

TD for Dublin Fingal Louise O'Reilly said the town "deserved inclusion as an urban centre" in the framework.

She said: "Balbriggan's population is growing faster than the any other town, and that growth will continue, especially since the projected expansion of Greater Dublin will focus on development Zoned lands.

"Balbriggan has been left out of the draft National Planning Framework, the Spatial Strategy, the Living City Initiative. We have been stripped of our Borough Council status and our town clerk. All of this damage was done by this government and the previous government Fine Gael / Labour administration.

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"Balbriggan has a young, well-educated population. We have high speed broadband, transport links, proximity to the airport and enormous Tourism potential.

"Brexit is coming down the track and Balbriggan needs to be ready. We need greater investment in our business parks and business development, investment in infrastructure including the harbour and we need investment in our long established Schools like St Molaga's. We need to be future-proofing plans for Balbriggan based on the census information and it's very disappointing to see that while Balbriggan has the population to warrant inclusion in the National Planning Framework it has been overlooked."

(CD/LM)