Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It encourages proper development in all our towns and villages, and tries to encourage more people to live outside the pressure zones, and to live in the other regions, which one wants to see developed. We recognise that people need a choice. Some want to live in one-off houses. Some would like to live in a village or town. If planned and constructed properly, using Project Ireland 2040, one can plan nicer and better towns, and give people the option and choice to live in a village or town. If they want to live in a one-off house, that is facilitated too. There is no cap on that or confusion. It is asked in the regional plans that when population predictions are planned for in counties under this Bill, the number of houses that are going to be built are counted and one-off houses are allowed for. With regard to the notion that this Government or any Government is stopping one-off houses, thousands of one-off houses are built every year in this country. Some years it is up to 6,000. Please do not tell me that we do not allow one-off houses. It is not true. There are restrictions in some areas with regard to people's safety, and rightly so. If one proves that it is safe and that one needs to live on or farm that land, one generally gets the planning permission. There are reasons that there are restrictions. Roads and national roads can be dangerous places to be or to have entrances. There is a reason for it but there are ways of doing that.

With regard to the planning of an area and people wanting to live in areas, Deputy Michael Collins spoke about re-energising and renewing towns and villages. People have to have a reason to live there, which means having a job, which means companies need to be allowed to be there. Companies that want to work in and develop rural Ireland are objected to. That does not help rural Ireland. It is about the combination of planning for houses, industry and companies. All of that together, worked right and planned, helps rural Ireland. It is a two-way process. People object to different things, not always houses. They object to other things too. Bear that in mind. The kelp issue was raised again. I would be happy to sit down and go through this with Deputy Collins. I did not grant the licence. I had a role relating to the conditions of that. I take that role very seriously, as does my Department, and we made some very strong conditions there relating to the monitoring of that. It is now in front of the courts which will do their job too. Sometimes Deputy Collins portrays a different reality here than what happened. It was granted ten years ago. The planning laws are updated on a regular basis. Since that planning decision was made, planning laws have changed and things will be different for the next applications but it was granted at that time. This Bill is to update the planning laws. Please do not try to paint me in a certain light for doing my job quite seriously. It is a role I take very importantly.

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