Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for that. It is because this planning legislation will be fundamental to the interpretation of planning across the country in urban and rural Ireland. It is important that we discuss various types of housing, whether one-off houses, housing estates or apartments, because they will all be decided upon based on this legislation. My point is that 20 years ago, people took to objecting to one-off houses and look where we are now with a housing crisis. Urban areas have grown beyond managing in terms of services, infrastructure, schools and social cohesion. The model in rural communities was better with social services, services for people who were less well-off and services for people with additional needs; we served them better in rural communities. We should look at planning in the round and ensure it is about how people can live the best lives possible. We can take this huge Bill and say it is just about planning objections or An Bord Pleanála or anything else; in fact it is about how we plan our population spread. For 20 or 25 years, there was urbanisation and a lot of development on the east coast. We must now look to the west coast and rural communities because of the population increase. That is desperately welcome. I have seen small schools in my area with three or four extra teachers because families relocated during Covid and have seen the benefit of it. If somebody says the once-off houses in rural Ireland are not allowed in this plan, it is all about every aspect of planning and making sure people are content where they live and can contribute to society. I come from a rural area and I believe in the ethos of rural Ireland, where people of all backgrounds can blend in and have a full life. I want that to continue for this generation, the next and in the future. Our communities have become diverse, which we welcome because it has added enormously to them. To go back to objections, there were one or two serial objectors in my area to one-off houses on very frivolous matters. When it went to the bord, it was held up for two years and the families could not keep going. They had moneys tied down and they had to give up. If we are being realistic, the genesis of this Bill is about serial objections and ensuring that does not happen in the future.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his indulgence on this very welcome legislation. I hope it will go through the House as soon as possible because it is important for proper planning procedures. A science would help rather than an art, as it was aptly put by the Ceann Comhairle.

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