I want to raise the mystery of vanishing crèches in housing estates in north County Kildare. Developers get planning permission, advertise and sell on the basis of estates having crèches but when the families move in, there are no crèches. Those involved have been abandoned by developers, usually in favour of more homes or, perhaps, the developers state they are going to wait until all the phases are sold. Last year, north County Kildare was down hundreds of crèche places promised by Ardstone Homes and Cairn Homes. Those places were just not delivered. The same thing is happening with the Castle Farm development at Jigginstown, Naas, where many people bought homes when their children were newborn on the basis that there would be a crèche for them. Those children are now three years of age and are nearly ready for school. When will the Government legislate to ensure that these crèches are built? I suggest that crèches be built first in the future in order that people will not have to wait for all the different phases to be finished.

I share the concern about the resources that are needed. We keep looking at the housing crisis, which, obviously, must be our primary focus, but we have housing without public transport, local shops and local schools. There is a real issue in County Kildare. In that context, I recall a Dáil debate on the number of school places in County Kildare. It is not just crèches, it is across the whole spectrum. There is a real problem. Half of the new houses being built at the moment are in the counties surrounding Dublin, namely, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth. Half of the budget is being spent there. We have unbalanced regional development, a continuation of the sprawl model. We need housing in County Kildare but it cannot be housing without the other services to which I refer. Building in counties Kildare or Meath will not solve the housing crisis. There is a need to put in place the right quality of housing, which means services must also be provided.