Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I absolutely support planning that is effective in the sense that there is a connection between where people live, how they travel and the support services available in their communities. This plan, however, essentially offers a system of individual development plans on a county-by-county basis. I cannot see any relationship between those individual plans and the delivery of critical services. There are lists of schools, public transport projects and other community projects, but the only amenities that are delivered are those that are attractive to the market. It is basically a system of development with some planning controls rather than a system of planning.

Unless we deal with the underlying problem, we will not find a solution. The definition of madness is taking the same action repeatedly and expecting a different result. I do not have any expectation that this plan will be delivered in full because it offers no change in how we plan and implement development projects. If changes are not made to rectify the pattern of non-delivery, costly overruns and time delays that were a feature of the last two development plans, we will not reach a solution.

The largest single public transport initiative in the greater Dublin area is the interconnector. Provision is made for this in the plan under Transport 21 but there is no expectation it will be delivered for a further two years after the plan is completed. I see no reason that key public transport component, which would make such a difference to Dublin and the surrounding counties, cannot be advanced.

Child care is heavily dependent on building facilities but the underlying costs have not been addressed. Schools are provided on the basis of crisis management. In the area of disability, an amount of money has been identified without an assessment of what we need to spend to give people the rights to which they are entitled and, in many cases, to turn them into taxpayers.

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