Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

A great deal of An Taisce's thinking emanates from south-east England. I can understand why one would not favour one-off housing in south-east England, where there is enormous over-crowding and a tremendously large population. Such ideas, however, are totally inappropriate for a country like Ireland. If one flies over Ireland and ignores the greater Dublin area, one will notice that we have masses of space.

I accept that people should not be allowed to build in inappropriate places or erect ugly buildings that can be seen for tens of miles around. There must be proper planning. I also understand the argument about the higher cost of servicing houses. We live in a free country, however, and if people want to live in rural areas they should be allowed to do so. Many farmers find it quite difficult to make ends meet and if they can survive for another while by selling a plot of land, provided it is not in an inappropriate place, why should they not do so?

I welcome the strategy. I hope it will be implemented in a sensible manner that is fair to all of the places concerned, regardless of whether they are specifically named as development hubs or gateways.