Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Ms Harvey has actually had the last word then. We are out of time. It has been three hours of fascinating discussion and the committee appreciates the expertise of the witnesses and the time they have given the committee and their opening statements. It is quite obvious the role we have as a committee is focused on housing, planning, local government and heritage, but we have definitely gone into the arena of the committees on transport and climate. It shows how they are inextricably linked. I note something from many of the opening statements. They did not stress the importance of compact growth on climate action. This seems to be something that was missing from many of the opening statements. To me, this is one of the driving forces behind this. I know carbon reduction was mentioned in some of them, but to me this should be the driving force behind it.

We talked about affordability in housing as well. Having to travel long distances because a house is affordable, far away from where a person works, is not affordable for many people. The cost of the fuel used is only going in one direction. We have to cover so many areas. We talked about health, the cleaner air in our communities and all those benefits that accrue from developing, and bring life and living back into our rural towns. We talked about the working from home and digitalisation that we will see. In the past, people got up early in the morning to leave their town and came back late at night because of the commute. They only barely saw their town at the weekend. However, now that there is an opportunity to work from home, we have come to realise the importance of having those nice spaces around us. When you walk on a wide footpath, there is a sense of safety about it. When you see those green spaces and trees, there is a sense of well-being. Intrinsically, we know what we want as humans and it is about us providing that leadership, collaboration and communication about where we are trying to get to.

I thank the witnesses for their time. This is our second meeting on this topic. We will have a third meeting next week. I wish to correct something I said earlier. Our meeting with the chair designate of the LDA, Mr. Cormac O'Rourke, is actually at 1.30 p.m. next Thursday and not 5.30 p.m. as I had said.