Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come to Killarney in a minute. Towns in this country, from Letterkenny to Wexford and many places in between, have been decimated because managers and officials, blinded by the moneys coming in from rates, allowed too many out-of-town developments. That was a mistake but it cannot be reversed at this stage. One planning authority per county is more than sufficient to have regard to spatial planning and everything else, as part of a broader strategy for sustainable development at regional and national level. Unfortunately, many of the developments that were allowed to proceed were developer-led and nothing else.

That is what happened. The bubble happened under the previous Government, and this largely contributed to it. Sadly, in many of these towns some of these developers-----