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

I strongly support maximising the potential of the regions once it is closely aligned with proper planning and sustainable development. I am concerned with the current wording, in subparagraph (a), where "including maximising the potential of the regions" is there without being linked, in subparagraph (a), with "proper planning and sustainable development". We have sustainable development in the introduction in subsection (2). We do not have the issues around proper planning.

Why does this matter? For example, you can see this all over Ireland where some people, no doubt some planners and others, would justify decisions that were made over the past ten, 15 or 20 years about out-of-town development. They could say they were trying to maximise the potential of the regions in granting planning permission for out-of-town developments but you can see how, when that was poorly designed and not sustainable planning, it ultimately undermined the potential of areas by having a negative impact on town centres. Poor planning around our regions that some would justify as maximising our potential can be counterproductive when it is not done as sustainable development and proper planning.

This is not something that we can take lightly. We have to get the wording of this right. If we want to realise our potential in the country and in the regions which is important, we have got to do it in a sustainable properly-planned way. I am sure we all agree with that. In my opinion, the Minister agrees with that. I would invite the Minister to look again at our amendment.