Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With respect, the Deputy is rewriting history. We went way beyond the offer of ten acres. We offered the entire site to Kildare County Council free of charge to do with it whatever it wished for the community as well as a housing project. I would ask the Deputy who is looking for ten acres in terms of taking ownership, paying for the running of it and ensuring the development of a proper amenity area or parkland or whatever the community may want. Surely the sensible approach is to ensure any developer who wants to develop the site pays for that. That is the whole point of having a local area plan. Where one has a local area plan for the 50 acre site. setting aside ten acres and having a different management and financing structure for them will lead to a very unco-ordinated development of the site. I have thought about this. We are not looking to make a lot of money. We are looking to ensure this is developed in a way that is consistent with what the community wants, which is determined by the local area plan of Kildare County Council. Nobody has come to me in recent times looking for anything different, apart from a political ask of "Give us ten acres", or offering a context for or proposal around the request.

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