Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

One of my best friends has a house on top of a hill beside her former home. It fits in quite well. Her son wanted to build half way down the hill but was not allowed. Planners insisted that he build right at the bottom of the hill. His builder checked the foundations and found that piling would be necessary to build there. Planners do not get everything right. That was an example of absolute stupidity.

I completely support efforts to minimise the use of oil and other non-renewable forms of energy. Everything that can be done should be done to build and insulate our houses in a way that minimises energy use. I did that as far back as 1971. I put in double glazing, insulation and a wood burning stove. There was no word then of green issues but that is how our house was built in 1971. I am totally in favour of making sure that houses are built to the highest possible standard. This is much more important than building massive houses that people do not want and on which they must paying high mortgages. In that context, I support this type of measure.

However, we must have some local democracy. In County Monaghan, we have suffered as a result of ultimatums to stop people building homes on their own farms. That is not good enough.

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