Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for coming in. All four presentations were very interesting and challenging. The presentation from the IPI in particular was excellent. One of the things that has come across in all four is the definition of "compact growth". Does the Climate Change Advisory Council have a suggested tighter definition of "compact growth", a concept referred to in its presentation? Does the IPI have one? I will refer to density guidelines in particular. I always find density guidelines really difficult to find. There is no consistency in the densities people are suggesting. You will often see groups saying that a given building is on par with Paris and Amsterdam in terms of density but, when you dig into it, that is not necessarily true in the case of that one development. I am interested in that. Can the witnesses suggest any particularly strong planning documents on density guidelines that would give a layperson an idea of them?

The Office of the Planning Regulator has also referred to compact growth but I was quite disappointed with the review of development plans. For example, the Office of the Planning Regulator told Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council it had zoned too much land. Why did the office state that a county in which there is access to high-quality public transport, that already contains a great deal of urban sprawl and which has some of the highest house prices in the country had reached its housing targets in the middle of a housing crisis? That astounded me. I want to know the rationale behind that. Is it that the office believes we will not meet climate targets if we build more housing for people?

Infrastructure following development is one of the challenges we all face. The Chair has referred to it. We are talking about 15-minute cities. When individual planning applications come in, you will often see a list of infrastructure that needs to be in place. I am talking about transport-oriented development but also things like schools, doctors, GP surgeries and so on. What changes to the planning process would the witnesses suggest to ensure the infrastructure that needs to be there to support development is incorporated, with particular regard to renewable energy, water, biodiversity, parks and so on? I think that is enough for four minutes.