Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Okay, but in a county development plan I presume an executive and a council would look at the land they have and it seems idiotic that one would landlock a piece of land one had such that one could not use it in a county development plan. Surely that is something the watchdog, the Department, should be doing, namely, watching that to stop that happening and rendering land like this unusable for the period. Spending €37 million on 25 sites is crazy when we think about the number of people looking for housing in different areas of the country and the amount of housing that could have been provided for that €37 million. I suggest the Department should be watching what is happening with the different councils' county development plans to ensure that such land is not left unusable in the short or long term.