Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for acknowledging that there must be some kind of population rebalancing.

I wish to develop the point made by Deputy Catherine Murphy on local area plans. The local area plan has been very useful, especially in urban areas. The control and balance are in the order plans are dealt with - the regional plan is taken first, followed by the local authority plan and then the local area plan. One has regional assemblies, local authorities and local area plans and the change in the wording from "having regard" to "be consistent with" will be useful. The wording "having regard" is just too loose. If one begins with the hierarchy of regional, local authority and local plans, the local area plan has to be consistent with the local authority and regional plans.