Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

"Tithíocht ar phraghas réasúnta" might be a better way of going about it. This is really exciting. I know this is a difficult issue to tease through but we need coinníollacha teanga so that if we are making affordable housing available within Gaeltacht communities, it benefits the Gaeltacht as an area as opposed to undermining it.

I am little nonplussed as to why amendment No. 147 was not included with amendment No. 30. Amendment No. 147 is a little more nuanced. Many of the amendments in my name are also in the name of Deputy Cian O'Callaghan because he joined me in the amendments but I could not go along with this amendment and I will tell the committee why. Along the coast from Dungarvan and Ardmore are three parishes, namely, An Rinn, An Sean Phobal and Ardmore. I would not like to stand on the Ardmore side of the border and try to explain to people there why their housing needs or housing settlement patterns are different from those of the people who live 500 m in the other direction. I understand there are all sorts of historical reasons. One of the historical reasons that the Gaeltacht areas persist where they are is social and economic deprivation. Surely to God we would not like social and economic deprivation to persist in order to preserve the Gaeltacht. The same can be applied to settlement patterns that are inconsistent with future sustainable development and are difficult to provide services into. Are we looking to preserve ribbon development, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, which is not great planning? Are we looking to preserve bad planning for the future of the Gaeltacht? I do not know if it serves the future of the Gaeltacht, which is the reason I did not join in proposing that particular amendment.

Many of the amendments in this group, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, speak to making sure due regard is given within the planning process to things such as the language plans that are supposed to be set down under Acht na Gaeltachta. We must ensure that the language plans are coherent from that point of view and, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, that people in Gaeltacht communities do not feel their cultural and linguistic heritage is just an afterthought.

I will speak briefly to amendment No. 391, which is in my name. It goes to what the Minister said about having separate plans for the islands.

It talks about an "Obligation to prepare Gaeltacht housing and population development strategy where planning authority’s functional area includes one or more than one Limistéar Pleanála Teanga or Baile Seirbhíse Gaeltachta in the Gaeltacht". The amendment is about making specific plans for that, as well as making specific plans that are going to address things like infrastructural deficits, be that around the provision of water or sustainable transport modes. Again, if we came back to An Rinn and the work that is being done there, that is a really good example. Water, and wastewater in particular, down there is under pressure. If one is trying to build a community then one must look at how we provide water and wastewater infrastructure. Thankfully, we have a very good and improving Local Link service that provides public transport into the area. It is a question of how active travel modes will be provided. All of these things should be taken into account. If the Minister is looking at the islands, we know there is a huge overlap between the islands and the Gaeltacht communities. That is not to say that every island is a Gaeltacht because it is not but there is an overlap. If the Minister is already looking at that as having priority area plans for the islands, then perhaps he might be happy to look at the spirit of amendment No. 391 at least and have priority planning for Gaeltacht areas as well.