Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One point to note at the outset is that the Rebuilding Ireland home loan announced yesterday applies to self-build as well and it will be useful to those who are looking to build homes around the country.

One of the key goals we are trying to achieve with the national planning framework which we are finalising at present is clarifying issues in relation to planning around the country. The ambition around Rebuilding Ireland, and in terms of our population projections on where people will live out to 2040, is that 50% of the growth would come from cities and large urban centres but 50% of the growth would come from everywhere else. That means that we must ensure that we have a proper planning framework in place for local authorities to ensure that we can open up doors to parts of the country that were thought to be previously closed. Of course, this is not only about providing planning for homes. It is also about ensuring that we have the right planning for jobs and other key infrastructure.

See this speech in context