Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the other three organisations with my original question. I will remind the witnesses what that was because we have had a fair discussion since then. I wish to make some brief comments first.

I agree with Ms O'Connor. My point was not about the zoning because one of the peculiarities is the huge gap between the new-build housing targets underpinning the Government's housing plan and the zoning. It is important, though, as she said, to acknowledge that part of the reason for this headroom in the zoning is the assumption that a portion of the land concerned will be less likely to get developed over the development plan cycle. My view, though, is that we will not necessarily need to zone much extra land. It is just a recognition that the volume of housing required is far greater within the land we have zoned, and these are two distinct points.

To not depress the committee, it is also important to highlight when we do get stuff right. This is to pick up on the Cathaoirleach's point concerning political and community opposition. The development at Poolbeg West is a good example of the political system and the community actually doing something right. It is the highest density SDZ housing planning scheme that the State has ever had. It had unanimous support from all the politicians on the local authority, which is quite unusual, and very strong local community engagement to ensure the plan reflected a variety of different needs. We do, therefore, sometimes get it right in our endeavours.

Deputy Higgins and I share the same constituency, but I will not ask the constituency questions here. The overwhelming public and political connection with the BusConnects scheme has been positive. Let us not mention the war about the bus corridors for the moment. Generally speaking, however, because of the way in which the consultation was designed and rolled out and the amendments then made to the plan, there is significant public support. The teething problems on implementation are more about the issues that were raised such as the number of bus drivers that can be employed and the rolling stock required, but these aspects stem not from the plan but from its implementation. I refer to the Clonburris and City Edge projects as well, which are in my constituency. We did not get unanimous support for Clonburris but it is a much improved SDZ compared to Adamstown, for example, notwithstanding the plans for that area. It is also important, therefore, to ask why we get these projects right in certain circumstances. Is it something about the design of the process? Is it something about the way in which we engage with political representatives and communities? I pose these questions because if we promote the good decision-making that happens, we might get a little bit less of the negative decision-making.

Having said that, there is a long list of guidelines. The wind energy guidelines have been mentioned. Turning to the rural planning guidelines, my understanding is that these have been done for more than two years and have sat there since. Political controversy has prevented them from being published.

I am not saying it is perfect but I wanted to give that as balance. The issue for the three other organisations - and maybe I will put it in a slightly more practical sense - whether it is Poolbeg, City Edge, or Clonburris, is if we are to do the kinds of things they said in their opening statements we need to do, we need to be able to accelerate those types of plan-led approaches integrating the infrastructure, public transport and housing etc. I am interested, from their experiences - and they have different levels of experience - what the key drivers are of accelerating those kinds of plan-led approaches. I accept it cannot all happen overnight. I am a little frustrated that some of the things that could have happened more quickly did not happen as quickly as they could have. I invite the three organisations to advise the committee as to what it can raise with the Minister in terms of moving these different things forward. I ask more about the implementation because the high-level objectives they all set out are broadly similar.