Ms Maria Graham:

We start from the national planning framework, which looks at an increase in population of 1 million by 2040. That is paired then with the national development plan to look at the infrastructure and cost of investment that has to go into supporting that national planning framework. Obviously, the national planning framework is based on growth of regional cities and brownfields and also growth in other areas. There will obviously be a huge population increase to deal with.

I went to a conference a number of years ago in the OECD, during which the Secretary General talked about the importance of investment not being spatially blind and that any investment had to take account of the spatial impact. The idea of Project Ireland 2040 was that we brought the national development plan and national planning framework together.

In terms of specific infrastructure then within it, each of the different areas would be looking at what provision is required to deliver on the national planning framework whether that is education, transport or water services. My understanding is that Irish Water has done capacity reviews of where there is capacity and where it needs to invest, and that is reflected in its national development plan.

Obviously, when it comes down through the regional areas and into the local authorities when we get to the county development plan, there is an assessment to be made in the six-year timeline of where there is capacity, where there will be investment, where there needs to be development and how can that be sequenced. Therefore, it is always about trying to make the best we can of the resources to meet that. It will never be that 100% can be done but certainly from a planning perspective, we are anxious to ensure that sufficient land is zoned and serviced for the needs, whether that is residential or jobs, and probably that a second tier of land is zoned and serviceable in the period. We are then consistently looking at that period.

I know there are always challenges. We deal with the Town Centre First perspective in the planning side of the Department and I know Irish Water particularly has a towns and villages programme. We are really interested in that development in towns as well as cities to make sure they grow. We had quite a discussion earlier in the year around urban development. There will always be gaps but there is significant resourcing, which I think is in the region of €165 billion. There are a lot of resources going in; it is making the best use of those resources in the time available.