Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Deputy let me finish? I imagine the majority of planning applications in Longford are for one-off houses or small schemes. The Deputy is comparing bananas to pineapples. There is no comparison. Let us look at the greater Dublin area, although I know the Deputy did not want to refer to this. The report states:

Counties in the [greater Dublin area], and those containing large urban centres, tended to have higher refusal rates. Refusal rates across [local authority areas] ranged from 37% in Kildare to 4% in Tipperary.

I will not go through the data but County Tipperary is my neighbouring county and I imagine the vast majority of planning applications in that county are for one-off houses. If the Deputy thinks the housing situation in Dublin can be solved with one-off houses, he is deluded. The overall rate of refusal across all areas covered by the report is 15%. The Deputy says that is a tiny number. It is an enormous number when one considers that it is 15% of planning applications not 15% of proposed units. The Deputy is proficient in submitting objections. The number of units being objected to is enormous.

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