Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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There are a lot of challenges for compact growth, two of which are affordability and viability. There are also issues in respect of homeownership. We see a certain amount of housing development pushed out of urban areas into rural areas. There is obviously rural housing need but there can be urban-generated housing in rural areas that is pushed out for affordability reasons and because people may not have the opportunity for homeownership elsewhere. An apartment constructed in Dublin and costing €550,000 may not even be put on the market for individuals or families to buy. Prospective purchasers may be able to self-build in a rural area for much less than that and get somewhere much bigger. That creates problems in terms of the impact on the environment, car-dependent trave and utility connection costs. We have very high utility costs in Ireland. Given those pressures, are there specific measures in the national planning framework that address those issues relating to affordability, homeownership and compact growth? I have previously put forward resolutions, such as affordable housing zoning, which have not been politically accepted as yet, but is there anything within the NPF which will address that?