Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Chair. There are several other examples as well as Limerick, such as Waterford, Cork and Galway. The Chair is right. The national planning framework is the correct plan for the future of our country, in stating that we need better balanced regional development. We have excess development in the east coast compared with the west, south west and south east. The development of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick is not going to undermine Dublin; it will actually help it. It will help to bring down house prices and reduce congestion, with the country overall benefitting. It needs to be compact, low-carbon development, which is at the centre of the national planning framework.

To do this, we need to intervene by progressively investing in the transport infrastructure, particularly in the centre of the cities, to bring life back into the centre. Each city has seen the characteristic of "doughnut development", whereby there has been flight from the centre to distant areas. This is what the OECD is talking about, as much as anything else, when it refers to car-centric by design. The Colbert Station site, or I could mention the Moyross station, is a perfect example of what we need to do as an alternative. My understanding is that the Land Development Agency, LDA, will in the coming weeks bring before Cabinet a paper with an updated assessment on State-owned lands, in terms of what stage of preparation we are at, for the development of those stations for new housing infrastructure.

The Colbert Station site was the first site the LDA recognised and we need to deliver it now. We need to go from talking about plans to delivering planning permissions. I understand the LDA is preparing a planning application. It might be next year before it happens, but I understand that is where the LDA is at. It must no longer be in theory; it must be in practice. Therefore, investment decision to reopen the Shannon-Foynes line, which will require the reopening of the old siding to bring it into the Colbert Station, is an example of where the transport decisions that are made are backed up and implemented along with the housing and development decisions.

If I may, I will refer to a second example because it occurred recently. We have just invested €200 million in Waterford city, with approximately €100 million of this being invested in a new sustainable mobility bridge across the River Suir to the North Quays, and to move the train station to the same location. This is with the understanding that we will then develop housing and retail offices on that side of the city. This will develop and rapidly expand Waterford city. It is already expanding - it is the fastest growing city in the country - but it needs to grow further and faster. It needs to be the capital of the south east. To do that, we need to take certain risks. With apartment building being expensive, it is not easier or cheaper to build in Waterford than in Dublin, but the market values are not as high in some of the areas where apartments may be built. We as a State need to be willing to take risks and start providing a lot of apartment and higher-density type accommodation close to the centre. I believe there will be a market for this and we will be able to do the cost-rental model in those sort of locations to really see a revival of the centre of regional cities.

Cork is another example but it is slightly trickier. The big site on which everybody is fixated is Tivoli, which is currently used for a lot of industrial purposes such as container transport, logistics and haulage, but it is within very close walking distance of the city centre. It is a stunning location on the River Lee.

The first and most important investment of the recovery and resilience fund was the upgrading of the Midleton to Mallow metropolitan rail line, because we could run through Kent Station and we could put in new stations in the likes of Tivoli, Blarney and Monard to do exactly what the Chair spoke about. Cork, where everyone moved out to Ballincollig and Carrigaline, is another perfect example. They are great places but we need to bring populations back into the centre as well as developing the suburbs. It will take some time but the investment in the rail infrastructure is important.

We cannot move the port until the Ringaskiddy Port option is upgraded with new road access. We are investing in it now with a view to the coming years. The transport infrastructure comes in ahead of the housing infrastructure but it initiates and spurs it. It is the same in Galway with the development around Ceannt Station and Oranmore. The examples of Moyross and Colbert in Limerick, Tivoli in Cork, the North Quays in Waterford and around Ceannt Station and Oranmore in Galway are designed to do exactly what the Chair is talking about.