Mr. Seán McGowan:

I want to deal with a couple of issues discussed by Senator Landy and Councillor Geoghegan in regard to development levies. The town councils that have been abolished have since come into the municipal districts, where there would be a number of town councils. My opinion is that any development levies should be pooled for the municipal district and that the executive would spend them wisely. Given there are smaller villages and areas that would not have benefited at all, the development levies should be spread out to provide footpaths, lights and so on in those small villages and towns.

Councillor McNally alluded to the issue of car parking.

When many estates were built, including when local authorities were developing estates some years ago, they put just one car parking space outside the house and there was no proper planning or foresight with regard to what would happen. Nowadays, there are two or three cars at every house so, going forward, we must look to a situation where adequate parking is provided, perhaps at the end of the estate. We also have to look at access and exit routes from estates to allow for emergency vehicles to get in and out. With regard to private estates, when the submissions are being made to the planning officer and there are pre-planning meetings, the issues are well teased out and the plans are pretty good in regard to providing enough car parking facilities for the estate.