Mr. Niall Cussen:

Absolutely. The Office of the Planning Regulator and its team understand at a very detailed level the challenges that various parts of the country, including rural areas, face. Many of us are from rural Ireland. Quite a number of my staff work remotely from rural Ireland. Therefore, we have an intimate knowledge not only of the urban challenges we face but also of the rural ones.

While guidance from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the topic is forthcoming – I want to respond to Senator Boyhan's question in the background – there are plenty of good examples of development plans that strike a good balance between supporting development that enriches and enables good strong rural communities and carefully managing the environs of cities and towns and preventing the main transport corridors from becoming highly developed to the point where there are concentrations of septic tanks and all sorts of access and infrastructural issues. Such issues have been prevalent in Wexford and many counties close to Dublin that are dealing with an overspill. I am sure the Senator, as a public representative in Wexford, understands the balance to be struck between ensuring development in rural areas is responding to those areas' needs and effectively waving a carte blancheand saying, "Whatever, wherever, off you go." It is very clear that Government policy recognises the balance to be struck in this regard. That balance needs to be struck whether we have a pandemic or whether we are adjusting to its aftermath because there are enduring challenges we will face, particularly concerning the vitality of our cities and larger urban areas and how vibrant they will be. We need to do a little thinking about that.