27. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Taoiseach his response to the recent NESC report, Building A Virtuous Demographic Cycle. [3794/26]

Sentiment score: 0.18

The NESC report states that Ireland is facing an ageing population over the next number of decades, with declining birth rates and a growing older population. One of the recommendations of the report is that research be carried out into the motives that affect demography, such as the decision to have a baby or to emigrate. We do not a report to tell us that. Every day, I see the vast numbers of young people in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and in Canada, the US, the UK and everywhere in between who have chosen to emigrate to make a life for themselves there rather than settling at home and having a family. This issue is particularly affecting rural Ireland because we cannot build rural, one-off homes to the extent we need. We need to relax rural planning, allow us to build in rural areas and scrap the development contribution that is nothing more than a tax for the privilege of building on our own land. If we address those issues, we can build more houses in rural Ireland and get young people back home and back in to rural Ireland, raising our families for our schools, our clubs and so much more.

Sentiment score: 0.14