Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witness for appearing before the committee. I related to much of what Deputy Stanley said and agree wholeheartedly with his remarks about apartments. I think there is a definite place for apartments but the whole idea has not been sold well due to the lack of quality in some of what has been provided. That has partly to do with the construction but also with the whole management system. I come from an area where we have experience of strategic development zones, SDZs, and would be interested to hear the views of the witnesses in terms of their continued usefulness, as I would be broadly in favour of them from what I have seen. That ties in with my second point. It strikes me that to date so much of our planning has been reactive and that there has not really been a plan for a town. I remember walking around the town of Ennis which I did not know particularly well about three years ago and being struck by the beauty of its centre. I then moved out to the areas developed since the 1960s, the quality of which was so inferior to the town centre. There is a rather haphazard surround to a beautiful town centre which, sadly, is true of so many places in this country. This means we need a longer term forward-planning approach. Perhaps the witnesses would comment on that in respect of new legislation or changes that ought to be made. I would also be interested in a comment on how we can best deal with the problems of infill in towns and cities from Dublin to smaller towns around the country and how the areas that are becoming derelict can be turned around. I am sure the witnesses would agree that it would be far better that those areas be occupied rather than driving people further out.