Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have not spoken on this Bill yet because I was leaving it to others to do so on my behalf. The Bill has been a long time in the making and it is unbelievably necessary. From going back to study law, I know the multiplicity of different Acts all over the place and they needed to be consolidated. We needed one strategy and this is it. The time for change is now. It is long overdue, much needed and much wanted. I am an optimist by nature and I see this as an opportunity for a massive reset. Something this size will not be absolutely right and not all of it will work the way envisaged - though a huge amount of work has gone into ensuring it will - and it will perhaps need tweaks and amendments in the future. However, that is humanity. We are better to go while knowing we are open to change than to wait and to drag it out until we have something perfect. Perfect in that instance would be the absolute enemy of the good and the absolute enemy of providing suitable housing and addressing all the needs of our future.

In this group of amendments and under these sections, I highlight the words to facilitate "compact urban development". I come from a constituency which already has compact urban development. More is needed. It would facilitate people's proximity to Dublin city, public transport and so forth. It is fantastic. However, the infrastructural facilities in the community are well below what is needed. We used to have a multiplicity of build to rent. The Minister amended that and it does not happen any more but there is still dense housing without public infrastructure. Organisations such as Sporting Liberties and Dynamic Drimnagh are desperate for facilities for children. For compact urban living, people not only need a roof over their heads, they need to be able to live. In the past, we have had constructive conversations about the development levies and their suspension. We need to make sure that money gets spent back in those communities, ensuring that there are proper facilities to support compact urban living.

Senator Currie spoke about childcare facilities. It was the subject of one of the earliest Commencement matters I raised with the Minister. It is the idea that builders and developers can abdicate their responsibility and provisions of planning by saying that one and two-bedroom properties do not need to be counted when making up the number of 70 units to require the installation of a crèche. People in one and two-bedroom apartments have children. There is a novel idea. It is not reasonable that is an exemption. As Senator Currie stated, it is the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's area, but he was supposed to consulting with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I have already had the ear of the Minister on this and I appreciate that, but we need to move to a place where crèches facilitate the size of the community. Even where a crèche is put in place in a development, sometimes it is too small to be commercially viable. Such things need to be given consideration and we need to ensure they are in place. Some service providers I have worked with who have tendered to lease a facility are unable to because they could not have a baby room. Such things need to be given proper consideration.

I ask the Minister to consider that Part V also includes making sure there is a medical centre. As the competition for space and its utilisation goes up in these compact urban developments, there is no obligation to provide a medical centre. People need dentists and doctors. In looking at planning observations in the past four years, they have been real considerations. A development might cater for up to 1,000 people and those people will need doctors. They will put pressure on the local GP service. All those supports have necessary implications for quality of living . In whatever way these sections of the Bill manifest in regulations and statutory instruments later, those things need to be considered and prioritised.