Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have two final questions. It was said in the opening statement that this could be levied at either the zoning or the development stage. I think I was picking up some concern that if it is levied at the development stage that this may not have the same effect in terms of suppressing land speculation and moderating land values. Did I pick that up correctly? Will the representatives from the County and City Management Association, CCMA, expand on that? On the concern that it could lead to zoning removal requests, in a sense is that not a positive thing if that happens since zoning has been tightened up and we do not have a lot of over-zoning going on? Obviously, the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, has played a role in that. It is of critical importance that zoned land is relatively quickly brought into use. If an owner has a long-term view of not wanting to develop land for residential use that he or she is using for farmland, and if it is not in a critical location but is zoned for residential, is it not better to have clarity brought in on that and in cases where they actually request the zoning be changed to agriculture, it is taken out of the calculations? Indeed, if it is in a critical location where the land will need to be used for residential use, the conversation could at least be brought to a head and have clarification around that as well. Are zoning removal requests not a potential positive thing in terms of bringing absolute clarity around use of a piece of land and whether or not it will conform to the zoning potential?