Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)

As regards the other big issue, I would like to ask about population projections and how they were used to determine housing need and, consequentially, the amount of land zoned to enable those houses to be built. In the run-up to the county development plan in County Clare in 2023, the biggest battle we faced was that 95% of projected growth for the county up to 2031 had already been reached, believe it or not, before the county development plan had been approved. Despite highlighting this issue, we were instructed to dezone land in Clare, to bring the amount of zoned land in line with the projected population growth even though the data showed it was outdated and unfit for purpose. Earlier this month, the Minister for housing said he would write to all local authorities to begin working on finding more land that can be zoned for housing. It would appear that we were right. The overcentralising and oversight of what local authorities can and cannot do on strategy planning does not work in this regard. How does the State resolve this issue? It is serious. The different methodologies for assessing population growth used by different agencies are also important as we are using the correct one to determine the most basic for requirements of housing delivery. Is it a timing issue because of the census and development of county development plans running alongside each other? Does that need to be looked at? Do the witnesses think, given the situation I set out, that local authorities should be trusted more and permitted to have more flexibility to determine their own land zoning, response to population growth and, most important, infrastructure availability? It is a serious issue.