Mr. Paul Hogan:

The one-size-fits-all nature of the proposal is an issue. A strategic development zone is a geographic planning designation, it is a spatially unique thing, applies to one place and is for a specified set of purposes. Each one of those aspects need to be considered in a local context as opposed to being subjected to a very high-level of overall national provision.

Not all SDZs are for housing. Again, this is a point that needs to be taken on board. Some include some housing or could include some housing at the point of designation but it is always specified, such as the Grangegorman SDZ for the Technical University Dublin. Waterford north quays is another current example of where the development could be entirely commercial but could also include some housing but we do not know for sure and depends on what comes forward. We have a current draft for Knock Airport, for example, which probably will not have any and an emerging proposal for the University of Limerick that could include some but, again, that is down the line. The real point is that there is no one-size-fits-all and the proposed threshold of 35% is very high. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to single out and prejudge how an SDZ can be approached locally given the intended purpose of an SDZ.

Finally, SDZs are intended to be, particularly in the case of housing, a strategic approach to planning whereby the normal set of uncertainties and things in a system are set aside and there is a clearer or more certain route to the volume delivery of housing such as Adamstown, Clonburris and Cherrywood. Applying this kind of differential standard, all of which would have to be negotiated in advance and prior to the commencement of construction, would for a variety of reasons, and viability comes into this as well, render SDZs unattractive vis-à-visother development routes where a lower figure would apply. There is a concern that it would kill off any new SDZ proposals in the future.

On the first question about local authorities that do not need social and affordable housing, obviously, we know that an element of it is required everywhere. The point is that it is simply not viable to build scheme housing in approximately half the counties in the country, or possibly more, although it is not entirely county-specific. One of the reasons one-off housing is so popular in rural Ireland is because it is a possible route for people to house themselves. The margins are very fine. There is a lot of talk about county development plans and the need to be sustainable and provide an element of choice in terms of urban housing. However, if it is simply not viable to do scheme housing, it is unlikely that we will achieve even the modest 10% target that we have. That has to be seen as the baseline from which further units can be acquired in the future. We will not see any of it if we make it even more difficult than it is to deliver housing by means of Part V developments.