Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not in disagreement with what the witnesses have said about the NTA but we have a huge issue with the carrying capacity of the N11 and with its merger with the M11. When a jobs application comes in for Wicklow, on a zoned piece of land within an environs plan, the NTA objects to it on the basis of the carrying capacity of the N11. This does two things. It stops the traffic coming into Dublin and creates reverse commuting and this is taking the pressure away from the M50-M11 merger, which is in no capital plans anywhere at the moment. Anything that has a job potential in Wicklow will help solve that situation and a number of such applications have come in but the NTA has gone against them. We acknowledge that the Wicklow and Rathnew environs plan borders the M11 and is within 50 m of it. It will use the interchange and affect the carrying capacity but is that not what it is there for? I am not looking for ad hocdevelopment but there needs to be fairness over the submissions the NTA makes in respect of jobs in Wicklow. The document, which was launched this year, is focused on inside the M50 and on improving transport connectivity therein. It does not address issues outside the M50 and I have a problem with the strategy in this regard.

We had to rewrite our core strategy and a lot of our objectives in the county development plan, which was almost passed on Monday but will require a second round next week. Transport is now guiding our strategies so who is making the decisions? The NTA has launched its strategy and we had to conform, rather than the NTA having to conform to the infrastructure requirements for the development of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath or Louth.

I will not get bogged down in one-off planning issues but I will make one point. I agree that we should not have people living in a rural area have with no connections to that area. The statistic put before us today is unfair, however, because it looks at a percentage of the data where there were no planning permissions at all.