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

I support these amendments. Similarly in my constituency, there are areas where thousands of new homes have been built without cultural spaces.

That comes at a huge cost for those communities because if there are no cultural spaces or proper amenities it has an impact on people's well-being, mental health and physical health. Then costs are picked up by our health service and ultimately, even in terms of productivity, workplace engagement and participation. There are societal costs. If communities with thousands of homes are created but do not have the cultural spaces and positive spaces for people to be able to meet, engage, enjoy themselves and so on, it has knock-on effects in terms of anti-social behaviour, crime and so forth. All that cost is picked up in the need to put additional resources into the Garda and so on, simply because we are not planning the area.

Make no mistake, the planning system is not picking this up. Cultural spaces are closing. They are getting pushed out because landowners and developers can get a higher return by closing a cultural space and putting in apartments. That is a planning issue. It is all well and good to have good national policy in this area, including policies and development plans for this area, but if the planning system does not protect cultural spaces and ensure enough of them are provided, they simply get pushed out by projects with higher returns. This is more of an issue for Ireland now than it was several decades ago because our economy is stronger. There are stronger potential returns to be made from different commercial activities, certainly stronger returns to be made from some residential activities than there was 30 or 40 years ago. We did not have the same need for the planning system to cope with this then because enough cultural spaces - buildings and function rooms - existed in areas where they were not going to get pushed out by market forces and higher returns. There is a real need for the planning system to be strong in this area. If it is not, we will continue to have the loss we are having currently. Artists and others who operate in cultural spaces will tell you that they are getting pushed out of the cities and many have been pushed out of the cities. They no longer live or perform in our cities. That is great if they live in a regional town and have benefited from that but we obviously need to have cultural spaces in our cities for people. The planning system has to be able to deal with this. I would like to hear from the Minister of State what in this Bill addresses this, if he does not feel it needs these amendments.