Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Chair. I am not a member of this committee so I really appreciate this minute. I will be very quick. I have one minute. I agree with my colleagues here with regard to the CPO, but I accept that it is a policy matter and we have to take it back to look at amending it.

With regard to TII, my understanding is that once funding is approved, a route has to be decided but if it is not viable, the money has to be returned. I have been a huge advocate of blueways. I represent County Louth and east Meath. We have greenways coming out of our ears up in the Cooley Peninsula. There is a core issue here. We have spent years regenerating rural communities. We have greenways but we also have families who have held onto plots of land in order to give a site to their children so they can build beside them. This is important because the Cooley area is in rural zone 1. The cost of what will be CPO-ed is agricultural land. That is about €17,000 in the Cooley area. To buy a site in Carlingford costs between €100,000 and €120,000. If we split those sites and lands, those children will not have a home. They will not take care of their families and they will be pushed into competing for houses in County Louth that they cannot afford. Who is going to make up the gap between €17,000 and a minimum of €100,000? I am delighted to see that TII is going to look for a way forward in collaboration, but public consultation-----