Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister and his officials. His guidelines generated a discussion on various issues connected with planning with which we are all familiar. I concur with what Senator Walsh said about high density apartments and estates. I referred to this issue in my contribution, as did Senator Coffey. Policing is impossible in some of these estates because all the roads are through roads and there are no culs-de-sac. I welcome the guidelines and I look forward to their implementation.

I would like to see local authorities playing a more responsible role in planning. Residents' associations should be involved at the consultation stage. When planning permission is sought, in general, variations are introduced a month later. This is very confusing as there can be three or four different stages of variations. Allegations have been made that builders and developers do this deliberately to confuse people. This is something on which we should keep a close eye.

The guidelines promote the notion that estates would be made more user-friendly for transport, especially buses. Proper parking spaces are required. We should not provide park and ride facilities in the middle of or adjacent to housing estates. This has happened in some areas and it results in additional traffic which is a safety hazard.

I thank the Minister and the Members of the Opposition who made valuable contributions. We all benefit from listening to each other. The debate was interesting. I commend the motion to the House.