Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy in every respect. I would highlight the great work done by the north-east inner-city working group which attempted to do much of what the Deputy advocates on the north side of the city. I agree that historically, the Liberties area has not had the same focus and is particularly deprived of playing facilities. I have done a lot of work with Mr. Eddie D'Arcy of the Solas Project, based in the Liberties, and am well aware of the challenges with regard to access to playing space. It is one of the most acute challenges.

The Deputy is quite right to highlight Granada Football Club. It is a wonderful club with 1,300 players but it struggles for playing space. It is the single biggest challenge in many respects for clubs right across my constituency, where there is far more green space than there is in Deputy Andrews's local area. There are similar housing pressures in both constituencies but there is more green space in mine. It is so important to develop that in the inner city and to protect it where it exists in the inner city. At the same time, we have to work out the opportunities for future development. The population is going to continue to grow but we have a finite amount of space. We are not going to start building football pitches in the middle of roads so we are going to have to figure something different out. I am being imaginative here now, but would the Deputy support a range of 13- to 15-storey buildings in the inner city, each with a swimming pool available to the community and a football pitch on the roof? How are we going to reimagine space in the inner city, in a mid-size European capital city with a growing population? We have the same amount of space. We cannot turn people away, and we cannot say "No" to development and population growth. We want people to be here. We want them to work but we also want them to have a good lifestyle as well. We are going to have to look at the models in other cities, where there are much higher-density buildings but much better facilities within those buildings too. As I look around the world, in different places, I see that sort of development. I see 13- and 14-storey buildings with exceptionally good facilities which are made available to the occupants and the people living in the surrounding area. I do not see that replicated here and I wonder what the vision will be in Deputy Andrews's constituency, as much as in my constituency, for accommodating that additional growth and the services that people need.

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