Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It really should be referred to as the critical planning document.

A couple of the witnesses' statements need to be addressed in my remaining time. Senator O'Reilly picked up on the fact that people will go where they want. Of course they will, but this document will strongly influence things. The idea that the document is not critical or that it is loose or a high-level thing is incorrect as it will have an incredible role in shaping this country. It is so important. That there are only three, four or five Oireachtas Members speaking about it on the last day of the term as we go to public consultation, with no Minister answering on it, is incredible and utterly remarkable.

There was a reference to burdening regional cities with additional targets. Additional targets are not a burden for regional cities. Additional targets, coupled with strong policies, will lead to very significant investment. It is not a burden for regional cities to have ambitious targets. If anything, there is capacity in the regional cities for very significant growth. We should not be talking about the relative growth of cities; we should be talking about how we want this country to develop in the longer term and about absolute numbers. We should be referring to where we want the demand to be, not referring to where we see the demand emerging and then allowing that to inform our high-level planning document accordingly.

Mr. Hogan said the biggest driver of growth is employment and then went on to say it is very difficult to say what the biggest driver of growth is. Infrastructure is one of the critical drivers of growth. Infrastructural spending is influenced very strongly by documents like the one we are discussing. If there is a low target that does not justify investment in infrastructure, we will not get the growth in the places in question. That is the importance of ambitious targets, coupled with strong policies, which in turn inform investment decisions. I know Mr. Hogan will say our targets are ambitious because they are relative to current populations but in real terms, they are not ambitious targets for the growth of the regional cities. What will not arise will be the policies to drive growth and investment.