Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, in response to my colleague, Deputy Doherty, earlier, said he wants to smash the housing targets. I am not sure whether he has told the Office of the Planning Regulator about that or amended the national planning framework or told a single local authority in the State.

In Meath, we have a track record of delivering houses but there are nowhere near enough. The Meath County Council housing delivery action plan targets are shy by 2,000 out to 2027 and there will be more people going onto the housing list than houses being built. To buy a house in the private market, people are looking at in excess of €485,000 for a three-bedroom property. We are ahead of the game in regard to our county development plan but as soon as it was adopted, it was out of date because it was based on the 2016 census figures and population projections that were grossly underestimated, although they were the basis for the national planning framework, NPF. For example, the town of Dunshaughlin could grow by 6,000 people up to 2027 and there are 8,500 people there already. Will the Minister immediately review the housing targets for County Meath and ensure they are consistent with national, regional and local plans?

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