John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The witness mentioned the Dublin Industrial Estate, the city council and height issues. Much of the committee's consideration regards what can be fast-tracked but there is also the view that what we do must have a sustainable roadmap for the future needs of the city. I have seen Dublin go through considerable change. There are places that would have been a hive of activity around the quays. I remember in the 1970s driving into the docks for collections where the ships came in. All that has been redeveloped. There is still a considerable amount of industrial and brownfield sites in the city centre and its proximity. At the same time we have had regeneration through modern office blocks, with the likes of Google in the city. I wonder if we need a more aggressive policy of land use for the Dublin city area, particularly as brownfield sites with low densities are probably a thing of the past. How do we get the mix with the population required to support it and how do we plan for that so we are not always playing catch-up, with public transport in a mess?

We are still attracting foreign direct investment and companies are still locating in new and modern office blocks that are being built, as the witness correctly noted. How do we convert brownfield sites to residential property or go about planning that so as to sustain us over five, ten or 20 years? That should cover the questions.