Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This is my final point. This is a fundamental point. Section 19(3), which the Minister of State refers to, talks about "identification of nationally strategic development requirements as respects cities, towns and rural areas in relation to employment". It goes on to refer to "future population change, and associated housing". That is the problem. The current national planning framework only looked at future population change - that is what the ESRI was asked to look at - and associated housing. It did not look at existing demand. If our population remained static for a number of years, there would still be a need for additional housing to meet the pent-up unmet demand. We know the Housing Commission will publish its report.