I am flattered the Deputy thinks I could be single-handedly responsible for so much. The strategic planning guidelines were published on 25 March 1999 and put in place shortly afterwards. It is a little early to claim the guidelines, which were put in place to counteract the effects of what was happening in the greater Dublin area at the time, are to blame for what is happening. The guidelines are designed to reverse or slow down what is happening, but to expect them to do that within 18 months of being put in place is unrealistic.
Regarding the point about the strategic planning guidelines not being complied with, if local authorities do not comply with those guidelines, now that the Planning and Development Act, 2000, is in place they must have regard to those guidelines. In a number of instances where local authorities appeared not to be in compliance with the strategic planning guidelines, because of the powers vested in me by the Planning and Development Act, 2000, I have been in a position to write to tell them I felt they were not in compliance with the strategic planning guidelines and to ask them to revise their development plans. Therefore, there is such a power which never existed previously. Certainly no power was used previously.
The Deputy is being very unfair in blaming the strategic planning guidelines which were put in place to solve the problem she is highlighting. Given time, in the context of the national spatial strategy we will certainly be in a position to reverse some, but not all, of the trends which have emerged over the past four or five years.