Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to accommodate the committee. I will deal with amendment No. 353 on its own first. The amendment seeks to amend section 44(1), which requires that the housing strategy must distribute planned population and housing growth within the area. The amendment seeks to clarify that this distribution should be based on demographic projections, including average household size.

While the sections relating to the content of a development plan set out a series of strategies, they do not stand alone but instead form part of an interlocking series that consist of the core of the development plan, the essential function of which is to set out an integrated overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of an area. Section 42 requires that a strategy for sustainable development and regeneration be prepared. This includes measures to facilitate compact urban growth. On the basis of that, we believe that what the Deputies are looking for is already catered for in the Bill, and we are not disposed to accept the amendment.

As regards the obligation to prepare a housing strategy and plan population and housing growth in an area, as the Deputies are probably aware, the ESRI is doing a body of work for us at the moment on looking at the latest census and various aspects of it. That will certainly be something that will feed back into the local authorities. On foot of that, they may look at their development plans. We believe that it is already catered for in both sections 44 and 42. Deputy O'Callaghan asked where we believe it is already catered for. We believe that it is already catered for in that the housing growth would also include housing size.