John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very quick. I have just one question for Mr. Cussen. It concerns local development plans. In my home county the restrictions Louth County Council is imposing on the development plan and the criteria for one-off rural housing are too severe. I am from Dundalk. The goal is to try to push people in rural County Louth into, say, an urban centre in Dundalk. There are about 40,000 people and the goal is to try to expand that to 80,000 over the next 20 years, according to the chief executive. In Mr. Cussen's view, is there a compromise ground? Would it be something like serviced sites in rural areas where there can be much smaller urban settlements and where people can continue to live in rural Ireland and are not forced to move perhaps 20 km into the next largest urban centre?