Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I do not necessarily subscribe to, let us say the greater Dublin area, GDA, that we have a big overhang of overzoned land. To be fair to the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, it derisks overzoning. I have seen recommendations that have come up because I have to deal with them as Minister. Very specific and detailed is work done by the OPR. Once a draft development plan is passed, it is sent up to it. There have been recommendations for land to be dezoned and that has been followed through. I expect that still to happen. We are not in a situation where we have vast amounts of overzoning but in some counties as Deputy Matthews outlined, there can be a strategic bank of land. I do not agree with Deputy O'Callaghan that this would in any way drive a move towards more out of town, greenfield-type site development. The development plan in each county is what drives that. The planners themselves are the ones who make that decision when an application comes in on that basis. We will look to refine the wording in consultation with members on this but what we are looking at here is to allow, in real terms, that flexibility and that headroom that everyone has spoken about. In real terms, that it is not seen as an arbitrary ceiling that is there for all the reasons I have mentioned, which are all on the record.