Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Well, it is nearly as bad. It is a serious issue. Over the past number of years, I have taken a well-worn path into this Chamber to discuss investment in County Meath. Many people are unaware of this issue but Meath is an outlier when it comes to investment and resources. Meath is unique because out of 28 local authorities in this State, it is at the very bottom of the investment lists per capita in most categories. Meath County Council is the lowest funded county council in the State. It has the lowest number of staff per capita and the lowest amount of expenditure per capita in the State. Meath gets about 61% of the national average investment per council. It gets 45% of the national average investment in housing and 43% of the national average with regards to amenities, etc. Meath has about 60% of the investment with regards to water development. Counties Meath and Louth are at the bottom with regard to mental health services and Meath has the lowest number of gardaí per capita in the State. This morning, more people in Meath left the county to go to work than work in the county. This happens nowhere else in the State yet Navan is the biggest town in the country without a rail line. The State wants us to be commuters but it will not give us the technology or infrastructure to do that. This has a radical effect on the everyday living standards of people in Meath.

We in Meath have started to live with the realisation that we do not get the clippings of tin off the Cabinet table with regard to investment but it now turns out that we have a Government and a system that actively work against us with regard to investment. The working draft of the national planning framework and the regional spatial and economic strategy for the eastern and midland region seek to cap the population of Meath. It is stated quite clearly that only 8,600 houses should be built for the entire county of Meath between now and 2026.

To put this in context, there are 5,600 existing planning permissions for units that are not yet built. Therefore, if the Government's plan goes ahead, only 2,600 new planning applications could be issued in that period.

We have a cap of 8,600 houses. On the other side of the equation, we have nearly 4,000 people on the housing waiting list and many more, unfortunately, will join them on that waiting list in the next ten years. It is possible that, for social housing alone, the capacity being offered by the plan could be exhausted. Houses in Meath are as rare as hen's teeth at the moment. The outcome of putting a cap on this will simply leave thousands of Meath families on the housing waiting list forever. Anybody who has studied any bit of economics at junior or leaving certificate level will know that if one puts a cap on supply while there is increasing demand in the county, it can only have one result, which will be the acceleration of rents and house prices in Meath over that period. To tell people who are currently put to the pin of their collar and paying maybe 60% of their disposable income on housing that we are going to accelerate house prices in Meath is shocking.

What I want the Government to say is that absolutely no cap or targets will be put in place with regard to population growth in Meath. I support spatial development and I have argued strongly in this Chamber for proper spatial development that is powered and energised by infrastructural development elsewhere and not by reducing the opportunities for counties such as my own.

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