Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too have concerns about housing needs, demand assessment and public participation in the context of this Bill. Instead of widening public participation in the planning and development process, this Bill narrows it through the curtailment of public meetings. The review of the Kildare county development plan started only this afternoon and this Bill could effectively lock out those who most need to access and participate in the process, such as the lovely elderly man in north Kildare in my constituency who is freezing in a mobile home with no running water, no electricity and only a gas bottle for heat. Though in urgent need of housing, what is proposed here denies him that vital access that is his right as a citizen. He can go to a public meeting but he cannot access one of the procedures in respect of planning and development because he has no laptop and no power, and I mean that both literally and metaphorically. We have a growing swathe of different cohorts of people in north Kildare who are experiencing this housing crisis. They are left at the mercy of the markets, which we all know have no mercy. Citizens need access and inclusion, not exclusion. I hope the Minister will give the public participation aspect of this Bill some more attention. We have to do better.

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