Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Not for the first time is right, and we will come to that during the discussion.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, for coming to the House to take the debate and I acknowledge the absence of the Minister of State, Deputy English. He contacted me as he had planned to be here but there was a diary clash. He has discussed the issue with me in the past. This is the third occasion in the past 15 months on which I have raised it.

The matter at hand relates to land identified in the local area plan, under the county development plan and regional planning guidelines, as an area of key strategic development. It is also an area identified for a master plan to be carried out. Due to how zoning has been carried out and identified in Celbridge in the local area plan, quite a bit of land referred to in submissions from the Department cannot be developed or built on until the necessary infrastructure is put in place. We accept and acknowledge this and we must learn from the mistakes of the past. We must have development in parallel with infrastructure and services being put in place. This is why the issue is so important and why I have raised it here for debate.

This is seen as key strategic land for development. It does not rely on a lot of infrastructure or services. It is right beside Hazelhatch train station. It is close to schools and in walking distance of Celbridge GAA club and the tennis club. There is fast access to the M7 and M8 motorways and from there to the M50 and a good road network. It has all the positives. It is on this basis, and because the land identified in the recent local area plan cannot be built on or developed because of the lack of infrastructure, that for now we are trying to get this prioritised and pushed on.

When I debated this two months ago with the Minister of State, Deputy English, he acknowledged in the Chamber that the Department would be supportive of this and would engage with the local authority. While the Department cannot tell the local authority what to do, it would acknowledge this is an area for key development and would be supportive of the local authority progressing with the master plan. It is also worth noting that all the key stakeholders are willing to implement the master plan at no cost to the local authority but under direct guidance and in partnership with the local authority. Everyone is on board. It just needs to be progressed.

In October, the Minister of State, Deputy English, gave a solid commitment that he would correspond, liaise and communicate with the local authority. To my knowledge, this has not happened. Hence, we have to discuss the matter again today. I hope I will not have to raise it in the new year. I have no reason to believe that the Minister of State, Deputy English, is changing on the commitment he made because so far he has been very positive about the project. I ask for a strict timeline for when communication will happen between him and the local authority so we can get this much needed master plan progressed. Once it is signed off and agreed, we can progress to the various stages.

We have a housing crisis. Celbridge has a population of 22,500. It is on the periphery of Dublin, as are Leixlip, Maynooth, Kilcock and Clane.

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