Few ideas in Irish public life have lasted as long as the idea that Dublin is too big. The language changes with the decade. In 1968, the Buchanan report on regional development described the country’s economic geography as “unusual”. The 2002 National Spatial Strategy preferred “balanced regional development”. Who, after all, could be against balance? The current National Planning Framework is blunter. Because Dublin “and to a lesser extent the wider eastern and midland area has witnessed the biggest concentration” of people, homes and jobs, “we cannot let this continue unchecked”.  Politicians go further still. In 2024, Brian Leddin, then…

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