John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This issue is not really directly related to this amendment and I cannot comment on specific cases but the target of a 20% population increase in any area is not an unreasonable one to set. In the example given, if the population of an area is 2,000, there are roughly 600 to 700 dwellings there. If a planning application comes in for another 200 dwellings, this would appear to be a very significant application in the context of the existing development. I will not discuss individual applications other than to say that I agree with Senator Burke that the population projection increases will have an impact on where people are going to live. That is part of its aim.

There is a clash in this and it exists in the Customs House as it exists everywhere else, between the desire to ensure that people live in areas that are properly serviced with more than just water and sewerage, footpaths and lights, and that they have the other services that come with having a significant population base which is coupled with the other desire and need that people have to live in rural communities. The traditional Irish population dispersal which has always obtained - there is no better example than in the Senator's own county of Mayo - was whereby the population in the middle part of the last century was probably twice what it is now, and was higher again before that.

A balance needs to be struck. The Senator is correct in pointing this out. It needs to be struck between having objectives for reasonable and proper planning and development and ensuring that, in particular, rural areas have the necessary population increase to sustain services and communities into the future.