Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To be honest, after studying this Bill more deeply, the way I should have done, I am disappointed, but there are lots of other things going on and it is hard to cover everything. Bringing in amendments at such a late stage rings all sorts of alarm bells. That is an extremely serious issue and it is going unnoticed in the Dáil by many Deputies. I hope they are in their offices listening to this debate.

For years I have been trying to give extra encouragement to build houses in rural communities where there was a shop, a school and a church, providing a village nucleus.

There should be more encouragement to build in such areas. Last week, Lisgriffin national school in Goleen, which is in my constituency of Cork South-West, closed forever. It had been open since the 1800s. When I was involved in local politics and county development and local area plans were being discussed, we tried to encourage villages to have a nucleus around schools such as that in Lisgriffin. We tried but nobody was listening. That is why rural Ireland has died.

The Minister of State, Deputy English, stated that there is no point in giving planning permission for housing if there is no employment in the area. Many people travel to Cork city every morning from my constituency, a distance of approximately 70 miles, and are happy to do so because they want to live in rural Ireland. The Minister of State referred to the 2040 plan but I wish to talk about planning in 2018. People are not receiving planning permission and we are not encouraging growth in rural Ireland. I hope that measures such as those I have suggested will turn that around.

I beg the indulgence of the Ceann Comhairle regarding the Minister of State's reply on kelp. It is a very important issue involving 1,860 acres. If there was 1,860 acres of destruction in the Ceann Comhairle's community, I would support any action he wished to take.

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