Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----fully supported Fine Gael on it. It is a fantastic plan. I was in Athy and Sligo the other day and they are wonderful towns but they are falling down on their knees, as it were. I was also in Ennistymon the other day. There seems to be no sense of there being a bigger national plan. We need a national plan. This is a big document. Another mistake that was made is that it was too wrapped around and built around Fine Gael and the Government parties, and I acknowledge there are other add-ons to the current Administration. That had the potential to alienate certain people but it has been done, that has happened and we must move on. There is a strong case to bring such a plan before the Houses of the Oireachtas, which is dealt with in amendments Nos. 30 and 31, and to have a debate on it.

As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, of which Senator Murnane O'Connor is also a member, this document has been discussed extensively and we have had amazing input on it. There is a very strong relationship with all facets and aspects of the Department in terms of the work. As members of that committee, we will asking some months hence, if we are all still here, for an update on it. The Minister of State made valid points. He has my support. It is a national plan for all the people. That is the way it must be sold. That is the way it will be successful and embraced, namely, that it is a national vision and a national plan. Regardless of who is in government in six months or in two or three years, the plan must continue. We have not had consistency and a continuation in planning for this country. We need to get our villages, towns and cities up and running and make them attractive places in which to live and work.

These are two important aspects and I agree it is important that these reports should come before these Houses and that we should have ongoing discussion on them.