As we come to the beginning of this term which will bring the Government to two years in office, are we finally going to see some joined-up thinking? The Government has asked councils to rezone additional lands for housing in unsustainable areas when we do not have the infrastructure in place already, in places like Clonburris and Adamstown. They are areas with no electric vehicle charging infrastructure for a domestic tariff and inadequate parking, where people are fighting in Kilcarbery, Seven Mills, Adamstown and Citywest for spaces. The Government is saying this is to encourage a greener society and get people to use public transport but the public transport does not exist. There is an inadequate train network and the buses keep being missed. The P29 express service, for example, was missed four times out of four two weeks ago and twice today and yesterday. There is No. 13 and the C-spine routes. All over my constituency, the buses are not turning up. The National Transport Authority is not accountable to anyone and is not fit for purpose. If the Government is also increasing the fares, it is giving a big middle finger to people in my constituency. Where is the joined-up thinking that says if more housing is going to be put in, it will have facilities and infrastructure alongside it and buses that actually exist?

Every local authority is probably conducting the review of their own county development plan at the moment. It is important in that review that we are all increasing our housing targets and the allocations that we have been given, and that we are making sure land is zoned on land that is appropriate, but also that land can be opened up where it needs to be. To support that, there is a significant fund that has already been provided. More will be provided at a later date but money has already been provided to local authorities to open up lands to provide infrastructure, whether roads, electricity or water, in the right place and where it is appropriate. Then our towns and our cities can grow and expand because that is where we have a lot of the infrastructure while at the same time making sure that in rural communities, people can build homes on their land, whether they live locally or are born locally. It is about getting that balance right. We have a national development plan of over €100 billion and much of that is to make sure we are delivering houses in the right places and the infrastructure is there so that people can access them and the local authorities can deliver them.