Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

When history looks back on this Government, one of the most severe criticisms will be that what was a very good national planning framework, which sought to bring life back into the centre, was abandoned in a national development plan that was all about sprawl. When we talk of housing and no confidence in the Government's housing policy, it is inexorably connected to transport; the two go together. Under this Government we are seeing a numbers game with regard to how many houses are being built, but some 25% of the houses are in counties surrounding Dublin and the same Government is spending all our money in widening every motorway. This traps us into an unsustainable form of housing and transport for decades to come.

If the Government was serious about the national planning framework, the last thing it would have done - which was the first thing done by the current Minister - would have been to lower all of the apartment standards. If we have to bring people back into the centre we must build high-quality housing and apartment living, including for families. We must not go with what we see everywhere currently, which is hotels, box apartments and the hostel-type accommodation that make up the numbers. This was a fundamental mistake. That was the time for us to build close to the centre with quality and proper sized apartments, with light and greenery around them to make an environment people would enjoy living in. This is what we have to do and this is what the national planning framework set out, but it was abandoned. For this reason, among all the other reasons my colleagues have set out, the Green Party will not be able to vote confidence in the Minister this evening.

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