Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I fully support putting in place a national planning strategy with which counties and regions must comply. As has been mentioned already, the way planning has gone in County Meath over the past 20 or 30 years has been nothing short of outrageous. Some people lobbied on behalf of towns to try to expand them in order that they reach their full potential, as I heard one person say in respect of a particular village. What has happened in Meath is that we now have wonderful towns. However, very few of the new towns in the Meath East constituency are of sufficient size to ensure that one can have all of the necessary facilities in place. If Meath County Council wanted to put a swimming pool somewhere in the area comprising Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshauglin and Dunboyne, there is no one town that can say it has the population to sustain it. It must be shared between the various towns because they have been allowed to grow near enough to each other and, in some cases, at similar rates. We must call a halt to this. As the Minister of State said with regard to commuting times, commuting times just keep going up and people are suffering much more hassle on the roads every day when travelling to Dublin from my constituency. Not enough jobs are being located in the suburbs. In some cases, we will have to upgrade roads. We certainly have to upgrade the N2 for safety reasons and because it just cannot hold the traffic that is already there. There is no question about that. However, if planning is continue the way it has operated in County Meath over many years, it simply will not be sustainable. We will not be able to deliver the jobs, services or transport infrastructure people want. We really have to call a halt in respect of what has gone on up to now.

My biggest issue with any kind of planning strategy or framework is that the public needs to be involved from day one because, generally, the public was not on board with the vast majority of development plans or the expansion of towns, villages and seaside resorts that occurred in the past 20 or 25 years. Effectively, members of the public were left out of the loop. I saw a recent example of this two years ago when a footnote appeared in one particular variation of a development plan to state that it was envisaged that Stamullen might increase in size to become a moderately sustainable town. In other words, it might grow to three times its size. This was simply a footnote in a variation of a development plan. That would not have the effect of doing that. The residents did not know that this was being planned for their area. This needs to stop and we must involve not just the Dáil but also all the people in our communities, right down to the grass roots, in what is happening.

In light of what is contained in planning framework, some of the development in my constituency will have to be brought to a halt if the framework is to succeed. I do not know if the message will get through to county councils, councillors and other interested parties that, put simply, some towns will remain as they are - and that this would be in the best interests of planning for those towns and the region - while others will expand massively. I think that will have to happen as well but as long as the public is involved, it may not be a problem. If members of the public are confident that transport, infrastructure and other services will be delivered, then they will come on board.

This demands a new realisation. We must view this from a national perspective. There is no point in Meath County Council deciding that Stamullen needs to expand massively - and not informing the residents of the town - while Balbriggan, which is almost next door, is on some different track or path. That cannot be allowed to happen any more. It must be done nationally and regionally and I will support that all the way because we need services, roads, infrastructure, broadband and sports fields. These are ongoing issues affecting all of the towns and villages in my constituency, in which there is a severe lack of services and facilities because of the amount of housing that is being built. We need to stop this approach to planning. Planning must be strategic in nature and it must proceed on the basis of catering for communities rather than just involving the construction of housing.

Deputy O'Dowd spoke about Drogheda, which is an interesting case because it is like many towns situated on the borders of counties. I will not blame the Minister of State, Deputy English, for this because he was not really on board with it at all but the previous Government proposed a change in the boundary between Louth and Meath. That was a simple change which meant absolutely nothing in terms of forward planning for the entire region. A lot more could be done through co-operation between counties. Two counties with a town on the border between them should be made to work much closely to develop strategies for that town. I hope that under the national planning framework and the regionalisation of planning, this would be essential so that one county will not be able to do something on one side without the active involvement of the adjoining county for the good of all citizens of the region.

In truth, we are catching up following the bad planning of the past. Many things that County Meath needs will be required regardless of whether we expand so we need the upgrade of the N2 to make it safer. We think of the person who died this week but quite a number of people have died on that road this year. Action is required in respect of N2 but this must reflect the needs of commuters who experience continuous delays on the road.

There is a need for the Navan rail line to service Dunshaughlin. There is also a need for those responsible for planning public transport and rail lines to actually use rail and bus transport in order that they might know what they are talking about.

The station originally proposed for Dunshaughlin was somewhere way outside the town, which would be absolutely useless to anybody. We have to get a realistic plan back on track. We also have to look at how we can serve Ratoath or Ashbourne with that rail line leading down to Dunboyne and back into the city.

The truth is a lot of people like to live beside capital cities and a lot of companies like to move and employ people beside or in capital cities. It is a reality that is reflected in the plan because it provides for a substantial increase in population in the mid-east region. It is right that the plan also seeks to disperse population around the country. That is essential. We are facing a huge increase, even in the mid-east and even with this national plan. It must be done properly. It must be done with communities in mind and with the consent of the public on the ground. I urge county councils and regional authorities, when this starts filtering down - and it needs to filter down as soon as possible when the plan is complete - to involve communities and get their consent. The Government should make it a key priority of the national planning framework that the public is on board and involved all the time.

We also need to consider an issue that many of my colleagues have raised. There is a lot of concern about rural areas and how they could lose out. We are not a completely urbanised society. We are to some extent but there are rural populations and towns that need to see the benefit of development. Deputy Michael Moynihan was very critical of the plan. I imagine people in Cork North-West would only be too delighted for a bit of development. We should think carefully about it and do it properly. I am sure they would like to do it properly and carefully too in Cork North-West. Rural areas want development. There are rural areas in my constituency that need some sort of help in terms of planning. I do not want to see the whole concept of rural houses stopped by this plan. There is certainly language in the plan that causes worry to planners. There must also be scope for allowing people to build one-off houses on the edge of villages. It needs to be looked at more closely because it makes sense for everybody. It makes sense for the people who want to live in a rural area but it also makes sense that the village would be able to incorporate these people and the services would be easy to avail of. It is something we have not looked at. We have the grade system that was in vogue a few years ago. We need to bring it back and encourage more rural houses - if people from such areas want to build them - around our villages and integrate them into the villages as best we can while not stopping people building on their own family land. That is a fundamental principle that must be maintained.

People do not need to build absolutely massive houses in rural areas. Some people build very big houses and that is their entitlement once it is in accordance with the planning and development plan. Other people want to build smaller houses. I was talking to a constituent who has moved to the Minister of State's parish. He has built an average size house, which is very unusual in rural areas at the moment. It is a really interesting concept because people can expand in the future if they need to. We need more of that. There are rural people put off from building in the countryside because there is an expectation that the house must be to a certain size when that may not be needed. There may be some cases particularly with families where semi-detached houses in rural areas could work really well. There are lots of examples in the North of Ireland. We need to encourage it if we are to give people, who may not be able to get a mortgage for very large houses, which have become de rigueurin rural Ireland, the opportunity to continue living in their own area. We must also not forget the rural cottage scheme which is a very useful scheme to keep people in rural areas. In urban areas we need to keep the planning with the consent of the public, do it properly and put the emphasis on communities and economic development. We cannot forget rural areas, however. We need to make sure those rural areas are allowed to thrive and survive.

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