Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 190 is in relation to public rights of way. Public rights of way, permissive rights, are topical at present. They have really come to the fore since Covid. We encouraged people to enjoy what was right under their nose and they could. They were able to appreciate, in their 5 km and their 2 km, the outdoors.

I am a big believer in ensuring people can appreciate the natural beauty of their community and access mountains, rivers and lakes. In my area, for instance, we have the Liffey Valley which is a protected area but we do not have enough access to it. We have St. Catherine's Park, we have the Phoenix Park but we do not get as much access to the riverbank as we would like. All across the country, there are areas that people want to enjoy.

In 2010, under legislation, the planning process recognised the importance of rights of way. Local authorities were obliged to include information for public rights of way in statutory development plans, including lists and maps. I believe the Minister stated in the Chamber that there would be no substantive changes to that in the Bill. Section 10(2)(o) of the 2010 Act says that the development plans "shall" include objectives for the preservation of public rights of way and the changes in the Bill say that they "may include objectives for any of the following", including preserving rights of way. The devil is always in the detail. There is a big difference between "shall" and "may", and I ask the Minister if that is something that he could address.

In relation to all of the discussion about community infrastructure, we will debate a Private Member's motion that I put forward this afternoon at 3.30 p.m.It is about better planning for local childcare and specifically addresses issues that people have raised in relation to the local authority guidelines for childcare facilities. Those guidelines say that for every 75 houses or homes, there should be childcare provision for 20 children. That is just not happening, however. There are loopholes, exemptions and gaps in the planning process. We have mandatory referrals for new developments to the Department of Education so that it can make a recommendation about schools. We also have such referrals for Irish Water and we even have them for flight paths, especially in my area, and yet we do not have mandatory referrals when it comes to childcare provision. The process relies on the local authorities but they are not equipped to be the bodies that do the forward planning for childcare based on the needs of communities. I hope those Senators who are interested in that issue will speak on the motion later today.

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will be in the House to take the motion, but the Department if Housing, Local Government and Heritage is equally responsible for changing the relevant legislation and ensuring that we are delivering childcare places when there is an upturn in housing supply. We are seeing an increase in housing supply at present. In Dublin West, 4,000 homes have been delivered in the past five years but we have not seen anything like the level of childcare facilities that are needed. We are missing out on the opportunity to deliver childcare facilities. I ask the Minister to ensure, following today's discussion, that this will become a top priority not only for the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, who has a lot on his plate, but also for him and his Department. We must ensure there is reform and an overhaul of our planning guidelines and legislation in relation to childcare.