John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives of the four organisations for being with us today. We are on the right track in terms of the National Planning Framework, NPF. Ms O'Connor is right about the cycle and getting to the point we are at. We have the NPF, the regional spatial and economic strategy, RSES, and the county development plans but it has taken quite a number of years to get to the point we are at now, in 2023, with the county development plans now largely completed across the country. The difficulty I have, which feeds into what Senator Moynihan spoke about earlier, is that notwithstanding the requirement to ensure we have compact development, it costs money and we have to incentivise it. That is why the Government introduced the Croí Cónaithe (cities) scheme and the new star system in the cost-rental piece because without that, brown field development is not viable. That is the difficulty and that is why the Government has introduced schemes to try to incentivise compact development.

The housing population targets that have been fed through the funnel from the NPF, through the RSES and the county development plans, are not based on Census 2022. My own county of Waterford has seen 10% population growth, which is more than the national average, and has seen the highest growth rate of any urban centre in the country. Difficulties were cited in Dún Laoghaoire, Wicklow and some other areas whereby what has come through the funnel versus the requirement for zoned land simply do not match.

Does the regulator's office see the requirement for additional zoned land in the context of what has come out now from the 2022 census?