Mr. Mark FitzGerald:

I see the way the market works and the way different markets intersect with each other. I will give a practical example. If we were to proceed to build more houses in Naas, the increase in supply in houses in Naas would have the impact of making houses on the ring-road of Dublin a bit more affordable because people would have an option that bit further out. Then if we keep the houses on the ring-road more affordable, it means that when we develop in the inner city where we want to try to develop, the price on the ring-road, because it will be an option for people, will keep the price in the inner city more affordable instead of having very expensive houses. How the markets intersect with each other is important. Public policy does not quite get that.

I accept that there is a risk that, if not managed properly, an increase in zoning can have inflationary impacts on certain services. When I began taking an interest in housing at approximately 15 years of age in the late 1960s or early 1970s, I used to look at the Evening Press, which was full of ads for houses all over the country. The prices of houses across the country, whether in Ballincollig in County Cork, Salthill in County Galway or Lucan in County Dublin, were approximately the same. There was a significant amount of supply because the land was zoned. The process may not have been what it ought, but there was a significant amount of supply and choice. At that time, the market worked and people were able to get a house and a mortgage and have a family.

The zoning of more land could be managed in a clever way such that while a development plan would be put in place, a person could still put forward a business case for the rezoning of ten, 20 or 30 acres which were not zoned but were close to services. That would allow a certain amount of flexibility in that such logical zoning could be granted. That would impact on the inflation of other land in the contiguous area. That is how it should work. The way it is managed is important. I accept that it is quite difficult to manage markets in an efficient and equitable way in a public process system. However, that would be a reasonably clever and adroit way to increase land supply while achieving the objective of helping to reduce the price of land.