I move amendment No. 73: In page 47, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “(e) a person with sufficient interest in the matter to which the declaration relates,”.

I will speak to amendment No. 113, amendment No. 123 and amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 220. Amendment No. 113 is the definition based on work that my colleague Deputy Ó Cathasaigh had done in respect of community gardens and allotments. I welcome the Minister's introduction of that definition in amendment No. 357. Amendments Nos. 354 to 357, inclusive, cover the matter quite well. The purpose of our amendment was to insert something similar into the definition section in Part 3, but I think we can accept the Min…

The Minister gave Kerry a load of buses as well, did he not?

It was going well.

I welcome the Minister's response on the transport infrastructure. It was merely put in just to address any confusion that might arise and maybe to make that a simpler definition. With regard to the way it was set out, alphabetically or otherwise, it looks at road use in a very sensible way and if investment is required for other road users we will look at it that way. If it is investment for cyclists, children or elderly people trying to walk around the town, then of course we will look at that in a sensible way. …

Now, Deputy Healy-Rae-----

Connecting Ireland has been a massive success in Kerry and-----

I believe I have seen the Deputy tweet about it. I saw him welcoming greenways and investment in footpaths and buses and all sorts of green investment going on in County Kerry, and why not? It should go on all across the county. I am sure the Deputy welcomes it as much as every other rural Deputy does as well. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. The Minister did not get a chance to respond to me on amendment No. 220. I will just reiterate that I am seeking to clarify that section 86(1)(a)(x) will not be misi…

I move amendment No. 113: In page 62, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: " "community garden" means an area of land made available to members of the community for collective gardening purposes for personal or local consumption of produce and is operated otherwise than with a view to making profit, to be prescribed in regulations as "community garden" meaning an area of land that— (a) is owned or leased by a local authority, (b) is let or available for letting from the authority to members of the loca…

I move amendment No. 123: In page 64, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: " "transport infrastructure" is infrastructure for cyclists, pedestrians, public transport and road traffic;". This is unnecessary, based on what the Minister has said.

I want to discuss the issue of public rights of way in the country. I expect this is a matter for the Department of Justice but I nonetheless want to thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for being here tonight to take this issue. The background to me raising this, apart from having some experience in dealing with rights of way issues where we have tried to include them in county development plans over the years, is that a case was brought to my attention recently of two hill walkers in Enniskerry, two elderl…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. Having spent nine weeks and 126 hours so far in the basement dealing with the new Planning and Developing Bill, I believe that many of those sections referred to by the Minister of State will no longer be relevant because of the new section numbers of the Bill. I take the Minister of State's point on this. I have been through county development plan meetings where we had what we thought were rights of way but these are contested. It is when the landowner comes back th…

The town and village renewal scheme under the Minister's Department is a fantastic scheme to invest in our rural towns and villages. I was delighted to see the Minister's announcement last month of a €4.5 million package for our rural towns and villages. Will the Minster outline any analysis her Department is conducting on those investments to ensure we are achieving what we set out to do with this, that is, to regenerate and bring life, living and better footfall back into our towns and villages and to create nice…

The Minister's response is very positive and the figure of €156 million for 1,700 projects is impressive. I am glad she mentioned the requirement for buy-in from local communities. Going through that participative process is key to success. I am sure if she had time she would have mentioned Blessington in my constituency. It has a beautiful wide main street, a beautiful square and was a market town back in the day. We are working constructively on developing an inner relief road to take a lot of the heavy goods tra…

I am delighted the Minister mentioned Newtownmountkennedy, which is the hometown of my father-in-law, Noel Doyle. He is a very proud resident, as are all the other residents. There is a scheme to rejuvenate the main street, which is another example of a wide street. The town has seen considerable population growth, which is a good thing. Many houses have been built throughout north Wicklow and in places like Newtownmountkennedy and Greystones. Blessington is also undergoing considerable development. Therefore, it i…

I wish to ask about two school extension projects in the Kilcoole and Greystones area. Coláiste Chraobh Abhann has planning permission and is waiting to go to the stage to build the extension. The other is Temple Carrig School in Blacklion in Greystones, which is waiting to go into the planning process. The Minister will be well aware of the issue we have with schools in the Greystones and Kilcoole area. I ask her to update me on those two extension projects.

I am delighted to hear the Minister refer to the 1,000-pupil Greystones Community College project which is also part of the of the building mix required in Greystones. However, my question related to the extensions for Temple Carrig School and to Coláiste Chraobh Abhann. They are all part of the mix. As the Minister knows, every year we go through this frantic process of trying to find school places in Greystones. Coláiste Chraobh Abhann has planning permission and I think is at stage 2B of the process. We really n…

In respect of the energy upgrade for schools and the pathfinder programme, a further 14 schools were announced for inclusion. When will those schools be notified that they are part of that programme? Obviously, the free solar panels we are putting onto schools throughout the country are beneficial in the context of their energy requirements, but the energy retrofits will be quite important as well in order that children will be in warm, energy-efficient classrooms. This will help facilitate children's education. It…

This is also related to education and schools and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, for dealing with it. I was informed that the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, would not be available today. I accept that and trust that the Minister of State will relay my comments and requests back to her. Since I was elected I have been engaging with parents in north Wicklow, especially in Greystones, Delgany, Kilcoole and Newtownmountkennedy. These are areas that have undergone quite a large population increase.…

I thank the Minister of State for that response. It is good to get it down on paper, especially since I had not realised that €145 million had been invested in infrastructure in County Wicklow schools. When I go around the county and see those new schools being built, such as St. Coen's in Rathnew, or St. David's, as the Minister of State referenced, I realise the advancements that have been made in school provision. The quality of those builds when they are done is incredible, as is the space that is in them. When…