The Planning and Development Bill could mean the end of one of Ireland's oldest festivals, Puck Fair, the Dail was told. The fair is held in Killorglin, Co Kerry.

During the resumed debate on the Bill, Ms Breeda Moynihan- Cronin (Labour, Kerry South) said she had received a letter from the festival's organisers saying that the legislation had implications for events such as theirs.

"We are a voluntary group who organise the running of Puck Fair in co-operation with the local council and statutory bodies on a very tight budget," the letter said.

"The proposed extra expenditure on items such as licence, litter, sanitation, transport etc will have a seriously detrimental effect on our budget and eventually could sound the death knell on our festival and many other similar community-orientated events throughout the country."

Ms Moynihan-Cronin said the Minister should examine the issue again. "There is a tourism imbalance in Ireland, and many voluntary organisations in small towns would have no way of attracting tourists but for their festivals. It would be a shame if festivals, such as Puck Fair, could not be held because the organisers could not afford to run them."

Mr Jimmy Deenihan (FG, Kerry North) said there was a proliferation of new houses in the countryside where the designs were not in keeping with local vernacular architecture. "This is happening especially in holiday areas - for example, in Dingle and south Kerry - where there is the old traditional cottage and farmhouse."

Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) accused successive governments of failing to take on "the real problem, which is the untrammelled right which has been given to speculators and developers to inflate outrageously the price of building land".

This, he said, was creating a situation where housing was now out of the reach of hundreds of thousands of ordinary working people.

Mr Bernard Durkan (FG, Kildare North) said he found it difficult to tell young couples that the Oireachtas was trying to make it possible for them to acquire a house.

"In my constituency, a Dail deputy's salary - according to the critics, we are supposed to be well paid - is not sufficient to fund the average mortgage for an ordinary three-bedroom house.

"It is not the kind of mortgage I would advise anyone to take out, because in the event of slippage in the market the person concerned would not have a chance of paying it."