Mr. Niall Cussen:

Yes. I thank Deputy Bruton for his questions. As I indicated earlier, some changes that would really help in achieving the reductions would be that roadmap, that translation of the national RES-E, the 70% by 30%, and what will come after that, targets into more regional and county specific allocations, particularly in the context of onshore renewable energy deployment probably being, in the short- to medium-term sense, a much more cost effective solution vis-à-visthe longer-term offshore solutions. That is important to address.

Pricing is very important in terms of shifting behaviour. In terms of the way we build housing currently, the cost on the development side in respect of greenfield land can be much lower than in an urban or brownfield context, even though, in a greenfield context, it costs the State and the taxpayer a lot more to service it from an infrastructural perspective. Brownfield locations very often having access to existing infrastructure. Pricing and the price of land and how we get that shift towards brownfield development are important instruments.

With regard to compact development, I agree absolutely with the Deputy that community benefit and, indeed, development contribution schemes are mechanisms in the planning Acts that could be used more in the context of ensuring that local communities see the benefit from the regeneration of their areas. Again, in terms of the link between local area plans and national policy, that is something we will be paying very close attention to once many of the local area plans are reviewed into next year and in the years beyond and the current round of city and county development plan reviews are completed.