Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I would welcome that but to develop Cork, Galway and Limerick we would have to rezone lands. There were major objections in those cities to rezoning potential. It seems to be part and parcel of Green Party policy that regardless of merit, there is an automatic objection to any development, be it student accommodation or high-rise apartments. I could list a myriad objections.

We have an obligation to protect the past but we are also obliged to develop a proper infrastructure in this country to allow people to have a decent standard of living. This generation also needs to leave a legacy behind it. We must protect the past but we also have an obligation to ensure that, in the future, people can look back and say that decisions made in the 21st century were meritorious, positive and dynamic. If we live in the past, protecting it without ever looking to the future, then we would have a very dull, grey society. Deputy Eamon Ryan spoke of journeys on which people find themselves. People will find themselves stuck at bad corners on dangerous roads with no potential to progress.

The legislation only focuses on the M50 at Carrickmines but the broader thrust of the Government and society is to develop a dynamic economic policy which provides people with a good quality of life. Deputy Ryan's version of quality of life may be slightly different to mine but sitting in a lay-by between Cork and Dublin——

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