Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will only take two or three minutes so either way. If Senator Burke is next on the list, it is fine.

I welcome the Minister to the House and it is a pleasure to have him here. I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him well. He has hit the ground running. He will certainly have my support and that of Senators on this side for the work being done.

This legislation that has been brought forward today is very welcome and I support it. Obviously the function of the legislation is to support the local authorities going forward. In a time of Covid they are having an awful lot of difficulties. The legislation seeks to facilitate public consultation whether that is in person, which we cannot do at the moment but we will see where we are in the new year. If it is not possible to do that through public consultation or public meetings then it should be done online or using Zoom or Webex.

It is important that we promote public participation and I encourage people to participate as much as possible in county development plans. We have started the Tipperary county development plan 2022 to 2028. It is so important for the public to give their views on plans so I encourage people who want to see their town or county progress to use county development plans as an opportunity to get involved. I do not mind whether that is done through traditional public meetings or through another facilitation using Zoom so long as people give their views on how they want to see their constituency and county develop over the next number of years.

We need to focus on one planning issue. In my own county of Tipperary many people have applied for planning. As they want to live in rural areas they might seek to live just outside of a local town. I know that we encourage people to build and live in communities and not in what we would class in Tipperary as the middle of nowhere but we need to focus on areas that are very close to town centres. Whether classified as agricultural areas, there is a restriction so people who are not from a farming background or do not own 30 acres of land will be unable to live in the area. Albeit these people work in a town or give back an awful lot to the region in which they live, they still cannot build in the area. I am lucky that I live on my own farm that is quite a distance from town but not everyone has an opportunity to live in the area. People are trying to live much closer to towns than in the past but they are not getting planning permission because of provisions that were brought through six, seven or ten years ago. That situation needs to be looked at certainly from the perspective of Tipperary.

In terms of the legislation today, I fully support it. However, we need to promote and advertise it as much as possible so that people can engage and give their views. I again welcome the Minister and thank him.