John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I confirm I am in Leinster House. I will start by thanking Mr. Cussen and his team for the work they are doing. I echo the comments made by my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, about the planning leaflets. They have gone down well with anyone who has used them and with whom I have engaged. I compliment our guests in that respect.

The development plan process is ongoing across the country at present. Waterford, for example, has targets to grow by 30,000 to 35,000 people over the time period covered by the Project Ireland 2040 national planning framework. It is in that context I will make my comments. It is essential for us to have sufficient zoned land to be able to facilitate development. It is not as much of an issue in Dublin where most of the land is already zoned or can be interchanged to facilitate development. In our regional cities where there is room for further expansion, it is important that we do not place onerous restrictions on local authorities. We must allow them the scope to facilitate development over the lifetime of this plan and beyond. In that context, would Mr. Cussen agree that we should be treating differently the likes of the brownfield sites, about which he spoke earlier? If a local authority is going to take a former industrial zoned parcel of land that no longer has that function and encourage residential development on it, the authority should not be penalised by putting that in with its residential zoning. Such a development could be treated in parallel. Is there scope for that? Is that something to which Mr. Cussen would be amenable?