Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Senator Scanlon has asked for a debate on sustainable development. In that context, the ESRI report published this morning shows that County Leitrim has the highest level of second homes in the country. The excellent Government initiative to repopulate the county through tax incentives has now proven to be an opportunity for speculators and those with plenty of money. While these people are welcome, the initiative has not addressed the repopulation issue. In the light of that development, it is ironic that County Leitrim will be split politically because there is a lower population base than there should be, despite the fact that the Government initially set about repopulating the county through the tax incentive scheme.

Perhaps tax incentives of this nature should have been more focused so that the population would have increased. As a result of the tax incentives, one in four houses is owned by wealthy people from outside the county, which means that those who are living in the county or wish to live there cannot afford to buy houses in Leitrim. In that context, I ask the Leader for an urgent debate on sustainable development in order that we can examine this aspect of the tax incentive scheme. It is a sad state of affairs that County Leitrim will be split politically at a time when we would have hoped that there would be more people living there.