Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we look out to 2040 and the changes occurring in our economies and practices, it may just be that capitalism might help Deputy Barry achieve his socialist dream. Through the shared economy, it may well be that private property will be a thing of the past in 20 years and everything will be in co-ownership or public ownership.

What we know today is that business as usual is not working. If we continue to develop as we have, it will not work for any of us in the future. That is why in this document we set out a vision for a different approach to spatial development than we have had in the past. I spoke about this recently at a conference with planners about changing the way we think about growth in cities. Rather than sprawling out, we need to consider concentrating our growth in urban cores. That applies to villages, towns and city centres. One of the driving principles behind this plan is that at least 40% of development over the next 20 years will happen in existing physical built-up areas in infill sites and in infill development.

Deputy Barry gave statistics about gridlock. When it comes to human development or democracy, Ireland is one of the top ten countries in the world. However, we fall right down when it comes to liveable areas and cities for those very reasons. We can achieve a significant amount in climate mitigation, in increasing investment in public transport and in protecting our communities, if we focus our growth where infrastructure and people already are. That is a big part of the principle behind this plan. Part of the vision is to focus on infill development, focus on existing landbanks which are not used properly and take advantage of the existing investments made there from a social and economic point of view. For example, 25% of growth over the next 20 years will happen in Dublin. Half of that, however, will have to happen within the M50. That means investment put into infrastructure there can be capitalised upon.

Take the Naas Road, for example, where one already has the M50, the canal and the Luas. There are huge pieces of land on the Naas Road, however, which are essentially just used for selling either furniture, trucks or cars. That is not an efficient use of land right in the city centre of the capital.

Part of the vision from this is to use new co-operative measures between local authorities and the new sustainable growth fund to make sure we can redevelop those parts of the city. Not only will we find efficiencies and savings for the economy, but when we talk about building and protecting communities, it will mean fewer journey times, less use of cars, more use of public transport, healthier living, less demand on our public health services, as well as greater ability to plan for the growth of schools. This will lead to significant benefits for our people, as well as for our environment. The key principle of compact growth which runs through the document is important not just for climate change but ensuring we have efficient public transport.

We have to think about 2040. I agree we will only get there in steps. We will put in place the national planning framework up to 2040 now. Next year, the regions will develop the regional spatial and economic strategies for the next 12 years. After that, every city and county council will row in with its six-year development plan and every local area plan from that again. That is how we are going to get where we need to be in 2040. There is a cross-departmental approach. When we have discussed the national planning framework for the past three years, it has been with every Department. When we had the Cabinet away day in July, half of it was given over to the national planning framework where every Department and Minister gave their input as to how it aligned with their own vision and what they wanted to achieve. There is that joined-up thinking, which means we can obviously deliver greater public transport efficiency, greater bang for the taxpayer's buck and, in doing so, make great gains with climate mitigation and the other challenges we have.