Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I welcome this amendment, which gives us an insight into the thinking behind the legislation. The draft wording used was "urban settlement hierarchy". I raised a concern on Second Stage that the planning law was moving swiftly towards urbanisation. The mindset and the language of the Bill, as drafted, clearly outlines that. The reference was to "urban settlement hierarchy" but somebody must have spoken to the Minister of State and his officials in the meantime to make them realise two thirds of the country is rural. Many people live in rural areas and they should be acknowledged in a settlement hierarchy and, therefore, I welcome the amendments to remove the reference to "urban". It is important to do so. Urbanisation was one of my basic concerns and the failure to take into account the settlement needs of those who were born and bred in the countryside. There are many thousands of people like that.