Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

There are a couple of aspects to that question. In respect of balanced regional development, the new national planning statement in relation to the ability to build a one-off home in rural Ireland will be a help. That is because there are many people finding themselves having to leave their communities due to a too-rigid planning system or at least an inconsistent application of the planning system across counties. That is one thing that can be done.
The Deputy will know I am going to continue to say that housing supply is really important, and we need to get 300,000 more homes built by the end of 2030. My Department has produced research in terms of Ireland 2040 and where Ireland will be demographically by 2040. It will be a very different place on the basis of a no-policy change. Therefore, I think of a number of policy changes. The Deputy mentioned the pensions issue. Auto-enrolment is a very important future-proofing step to take now.
I would also point out that there are many parts of this country well outside the Dublin area thriving. I spent a lot of time in Galway recently where there are key infrastructural projects we need to deliver, like the ring road and the BusConnects project. Down in Cork, there is the Luas project as well. I do not like the phrase "commuter hell". While there are very serious traffic congestion issues in this country, there are many parts of this country that are thriving and where people are proud of their communities, but they want to see us deliver infrastructure more quickly to help and we intend to do that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28