John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his presence today. I am keen to make a contribution on the national planning framework, which is essentially the creation of an environment for accelerated housing development in Ireland, and other issues it concerns itself with.

In no particular order I will just throw in a couple of ideas or issues close to my heart. I do not represent a Dublin city constituency: I represent a suburb constituency of Dublin South-West. I said recently that Dublin has suffered from neglect over the last number of years and a lack of love, generally speaking. It needs to be front and centre. For some people in this House prioritising Dublin - generally speaking - never seems to be met with a serious response but often with a jaundiced response. It is the capital city.

Consider the party that built this city, including Terminal 2, the red and green Luas lines, the various stadia around the city, the Dublin Port Tunnel. We see there has been very little done in the last decade in relation to landmarks and legacy buildings and infrastructure in Dublin. I think that needs to be front and centre. I ask the Minister of State to look at his own Department, for example. The north side of Dublin is particularly lacking in love. I have felt for a long time that the Custom House should not be a Government Department. The Department of housing should not be in an old building like that. The entire Custom House should be open to the public. It should be a performance centre. We do not have a major music performance centre in this country. I would move the Department out to a purpose built, A-rated, modern and dynamic building where civil servants can work properly in devising plans in an environment that promotes this. That building should be open to the public. The Minister of State should really consider that. It would begin the transformation of Dublin's northside.

The Minister of State is familiar with metro south, so I will not take up too much time on that. The Minister of State's colleague has spoken about downsizing and it got a kind of a mixed press on Monday night on the television.

I am very much in favour of it, whatever term is used. I know loads of people - they do not have to be older people - who would move to different-sized accommodation if it were local, which would allow them to stay in their parish, their locality and with their friends, thus freeing up a three-bed or four-bed house for younger families. We have to get serious about that. Of course, the win for the State there is that one does not have to put in the utilities. The utilities, services, roads, schools, shops and everything else are there. It is about trying to maximise the use of the space that is available. Much of the national planning framework is all about that proper land use.

One thing we have to do is - I know the Minister of State would be in favour of it, as would I - incentivise the use of the high number of cycle tracks that have been built, because they are not being used. That is a function of the Government. I have had ideas about that in recent years. It is like pushing a boulder up a hill, but we keep pushing, as it was with the co-location of preschools with primary schools. It took me about eight years, and we finally got that concept over the line. We need to incentivise people to use all the cycle infrastructure that has been put in.

A number of active travel schemes in Dublin impede the movement of public transport. It is something I have spoken to the NTA about. I am positive with its response, even though it took a while. I will be positive where I need to be positive. Public transport is impeded because the active travel part of a local authority is not talking to the public transport part. That has to stop. If it means that the decision or the oversight of this goes up to a major decision-maker, that has to happen. I have so many examples of this. Where it is done well, it is exceptional. In the city, for example, from Busáras all the way out to Fairview, there are cycle tracks and dedicated, end-to-end bus corridors. It is really impressive. It cost a sackload of money, but it is as good as a tramline. There is no excuse when it is done badly and impedes public transport.

Deputy Moynihan's and my constituencies are contiguous, and we therefore share some things in common, such as Garda stations. They should be discussed with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. I do not believe the Garda stations in Dublin have been rationalised in about 50 years. They are like the old parishes. Five or six Garda stations cover my constituency where two could do it if they were rationalised properly. That does not help. We need a Garda station out in Citywest.

I support housing first; that is our absolute priority. My God, if the Government is successful, it will be remembered forever. If not, the Government will also be remembered forever. With housing must come amenities, though, and I often fear that the concept of amenities can be lost, so please keep it front and centre.

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