Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

I agree with my colleague on the provision of childcare places and crèches, specifically the right type of building. I have areas in my constituency where massive private housing estates are being built and the childcare centres are not and have not been built at all. I have queried them with Cork City Council regarding one estate in Glanmire where 500 houses are being built with no parks, no playground, no community centre and no childcare centre going in there. To me, we need these guidelines delivered.

We saw during the Celtic tiger what happened when there was just building. We need to build communities, not just buildings. We need childcare facilities and we need the parks and playgrounds to go with them. The other thing is we have people driving all over cities, towns and counties to try to find childcare places for their children, when they should be parked at the local development. That is why these planning guidelines need to be delivered as soon as possible.

See this speech in context