Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

One of the reasons I am raising this is the shortage of land. If we want to promote compact growth, or initiatives like 15-minute cities, it is important with large-scale housing developments we have adequate amounts of industrial and commercial land there as well. While I fully take the point that planning authorities do set their own development plans, we are also familiar with instances where either the Office of the Planning Regulator or a ministerial order has been put in place to vary or alter a development plan, as happened in my own county. I encourage the Minister to consider issuing guidance to local authorities in terms of thinking of the amount and quantum of EE land available in their counties to support employment in the large housing developments that are going to happen, to encourage compact growth and to be complementary to the transport-led planning, which we require as well. In the context of a vacancy that has been identified by Ministers in this House, there is not sufficient space for companies and SMEs in particular that want to scale up. We need to support their growth as the backbone of our economy in these uncertain global times.

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