Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

We are constantly told that legislation tends not to be retrospective. The Minister tells us that sufficient land has been zoned for 460,000 housing units and it cannot be interfered with. Servicing land is obviously a key issue and the Minister referred to the hoarding of land. A balance must be achieved between the industrial and residential use of land. For example, Intel has a huge capacity for water because it is a wet industry. It is important to find the balance between housing and industrial development in order keep people in one area. We must examine resources in that respect. Local authorities often over-zone land to 1.5 times or twice the projected requirements because they wish to resist the possibility of land hoarding.

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