Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

This is a highly important document and there is only a short time to speak to it. I will mention some of the positives. I am encouraged by the stronger focus on compact, low-carbon growth and the formal integration of environmental assessments. The new national planning objectives, NPOs, reinforcing a commitment to biodiversity are important. Likewise, I welcome the commitment to transport-oriented development, which I will speak about in a moment. In particular, I welcome the measures to support offshore renewables and the regional targets for onshore renewables because the tendency of some local authorities to designate large parts of their county as renewable energy free zones is very problematic.

I will also address the inadequate focus in this document on balanced regional development. Deputy Connolly mentioned the issue of there being no reference to light rail for Galway. There is no reference to commuter or metropolitan rail in Limerick to provide a link between Limerick and Shannon, or to the western corridor. We have a document that speaks to transport-led planning and transport-led housing, but the actual indicators and projects that will deliver that are not referenced.

I will take a step back to the previous Government, when the Green Party was regularly criticised for being Dublin and urban centric. I am a Dublin TD. I am very proud to represent a suburban Dublin constituency, but the new national planning framework does not address the imbalance in our country towards Dublin. As a Dublin TD, I want to see that imbalance addressed. It is important because, in the previous Government, our party was focused on as the driver of that imbalance, but I say to TDs in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, indeed, Independent TDs, they are adopting a document that fundamentally maintains the imbalance towards Dublin. That is bad for our regions and for Dublin as well.

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