Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

An interesting phenomenon happened in this House recently. Effectively, the NDP has been ripped up. There was an 8% growth in population up to the last census period, and a dramatic growth since the census was taken. The interesting thing is that the growth has not been confined to the cities but has occurred right across the country. The cities recorded only average growth. The county with the highest percentage growth was Longford, while Leitrim had the third highest. The growth is not happening, in the cities, as was predicted in all of these plans. It is actually happening across the country. Is it fair to say that most of the plans that have been developed will have to be redone?

If a new national planning framework, which is being revised currently, comes out, it will probably be found that the targets for growth were underestimated and population growth far exceeds what was expected. Thus, a lot more services, transport and movement of people will have to be provided to get to those services.