Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This issue has come up before. I am not passing the buck, but when a local authority approves a housing development, it needs to, and it is now within the guidelines and part of good practice that it should, facilitate space and infrastructure for a community hall and playing facilities and pitches. That is not always easy to do, but that is where it starts and that is where the line of responsibility begins. Through a variety of schemes, including the community centre investment fund, the local enhancement project, the RRDF and the URDF in another Department, and sports capital grants in another Department, central government is assisting in situations like that. When starting a development from scratch, it needs to be planned properly. Central government can help with that, but the initial plan for the housing development needs to be up to scratch and cognisant of the fact the needs of a community are wider than simply housing.

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