Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for allowing me in instead of Deputy Tom Fleming. I thank our guests for coming as well. I will not rehash anything that has been said, but I watched proceedings on the last occasion from all sides, and one of Mr. Keegan's conclusions was that the integrity of the statutory event licensing framework was paramount and that he was satisfied that in its assessment of the Garth Brooks concert event licence application, the local authority upheld the integrity of the laws under which we must operate. The laws are made in this House and it is obvious that they must be upheld at all times. Mr. Keegan reiterated on Tuesday his statement that if the integrity of the planning system is to be maintained, it is important that the interests of no single individual or organisation, no matter how cherished a place he, she or it occupies in the hearts of the nation, be allowed to unduly influence the system. He said the genuine concerns of local residents, which were a factor in the city council decision, could not and should not be disregarded, notwithstanding the short-term commercial or economic arguments. That is the due and fair process and citizens must be respected, including those who made submissions. Mr. Keegan said that the decision reached was appropriate and reasonable having regard to all competing interests. He said that nothing that had occurred since the decision was made had changed his opinion that it was appropriate, balanced and reasonable. Finally, he said the city council would welcome an independent review. The Minister is going to hold that and it will be very important.

It is a very poor situation when we have such an onus placed on one individual or planning team with no appeals mechanism. That is the way the law is framed. An appeal mechanism should be provided for. If it had been, we would not be in the embarrassing situation in which we find ourselves, with hundreds of thousands people upset and traumatised and bad publicity abroad with regard to the image of Ireland of the welcomes, following on from The Gathering last year. Mr. Keegan said his understanding of the law was that the local authority could not revisit the decision. He said that if a judicial review examined all procedures, it would find that they were followed properly. He said he would resign if any wrongdoing was found. Is that always the situation in planning? Was there bias? I will bring him back to decisions made in the 1990s, when a judicial review resulted in Dublin ratepayers having to fork out €1 million in costs, including those of the applicant. I quote from a document in my possession.