Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Mattie McGrath. The Aarhus Convention highlights the importance of public consultation and transparency. I would like to speak about the lack of consultation in an oral hearing, which was held virtually, involving Irish Cement Limited at Castlemungret and the Environmental Protection Agency. Is the Minister aware that the objectors were kept in a virtual holding room prior to giving their statement? Does that seem fair?

In Limerick, the biggest infrastructure project is the M20 motorway from Limerick to Cork. Earlier this week, I invited the project co-ordinator to speak to some of my constituents via Zoom, which will happen tomorrow evening at 7.30 p.m.. I never realised how important an issue broadband connectivity is until the phones in my office started hopping again this evening with calls from people saying they will be unable to connect to the meeting because their broadband speed is not good enough to allow them to connect to it. Some people do not have access to the Internet. I mentioned earlier today that there are over 21,000 houses in Limerick without adequate broadband services. This means they will not have an input into the meeting. The project co-ordinator is also holding one-on-one meetings and the deadline for these meetings has been extended until 15 January to enable people to raise their objections.

The 2040 plan will stop all building in rural Ireland. I have been involved in construction and building houses all of my life. I was a councillor before I became a Deputy. All of the regulations have been put in place. Fianna Fáil voted for 2040 plan. Is the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, aware that when a person goes to the expense of seeking planning permission in an area, even if he or she is from the area and meets all of the criteria, if another person objects for some unknown reason and the matter goes to An Bord Pleanála, the objection is being upheld under the 2040 plan? Did the Minister know this? People who are spending thousands of euro in order to live in rural Ireland, in the home place where they grew up, are being discriminated against by Fianna Fáil because it voted for the plan.

Some of the local authorities are moving to close down all consultation. This would allow those local authorities to move to online meetings permanently. The recent ESRI report highlights the goals of the national development framework, Project Ireland 2040, and shows an increase in housing demand, particularly in Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford. The report also highlights the urgent need for the national planning framework 2040 plan to be debated annually and voted upon in the Dáil. This is an absolute necessity. The ESRI collects independent research and remains committed to do this work, and it is free from political bias.

If the Minister wanted to build a house in County Limerick, he would have to pay planning contributions. Those contributions pay for infrastructure such as a sewerage system which is non-existent because the person has to put in place his or her own system at massive expense of €10,000 to €12,000; roads which are poorly maintained because the local authorities are not being given sufficient funding; and an upfront of contribution of €5,000 or €6,000. The upfront cost for anyone who wants to build to live in rural Ireland, in terms of planning for a biosystem, contributions and an ESB connection, is €23,000 to €24,000.

All the Government has done is increase the tax on fuel for people in Ireland who do not have transport infrastructure, so it will cost them more to go to work, to get their groceries, to go to school or to do anything because there is no infrastructure. This 2040 plan needs to be reversed and the Government should look after the people who are looking after it. It is taxing us to death with everything, including fossil fuels, because it has left us with no infrastructure. If people want to build in rural Ireland, it taxes them even more.

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