Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I would like to go further in the publication of rights of way and their incorporation in the plan. I am conscious of the debate between land owners and worthy NGOs, such as that with which Mr. Garland is associated. In fairness, I must speak to the amendments in front of me, which deal with sustainable development. They are important and are a step in the right direction.

I would be willing to look at the flooding issue and the relevant planners' reports to see how many of them were granted on the recommendation of the county manager and how many came through the Section 4 process or, more recently the section 140 process, which I think has given cause for concern.

Flooding is a real issue. I recently had a communication from a colleague saying his annual insurance premium went up by €150 this year. When he queried it he was told the increase was because of flooding. Proper planning will lead to benefits in the longer term and to increases in insurance premiums becoming less likely. We must have this joined-up thinking. We cannot act in isolation from river basin strategies, strategic planning and local planning. We must join the dots between local, regional, national planning and other strategies on energy use and flood risk management.

See this speech in context