Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I welcome the fact that he said he is going to engage with local authorities because it seems to be a real problem in some of our towns. Developments are being proposed where there is much need for housing - we all agree that we need to see more housing in our towns - but because of the specific densities, they are not viable and therefore are not being proceeded with. We are ending up not getting the housing development we need in many of our towns because they have to satisfy these quite restrictive criteria. I completely understand that we need more density in urban centres and so on. There are practical issues arising where it does not become viable to go ahead with some of these developments. I think the Minister's attention has been drawn to some examples; I understand my party leader drew his attention to some. I ask the Minister to clarify how he is engaging and whether there is some scope for flexibility in that regard.

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