James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates of the representative associations. The first time Mr. O'Connell was here was as general secretary of the Local Authority Members Association, a position I held for a number of years.

What the Bill needs to provide for is a better social mix.

All members have experienced situations where local authority houses have been constructed and then, in a 20-year lifespan, visited thrice for total refurbishment. This costs local authorities a great deal of money; therefore, the issue of the social mix within local authority estates must be addressed. Housing design must be improved because there should be no need to distinguish a council estate from a private estate. This will be important in the future. In addition, citizens are and have been the real victims of bad planning during the years. Bad planning has had an appalling impact on the lives of people nationwide, in particular in the midlands, the Shannon region and the mid-west. The report of the Mahon tribunal, which everyone has probably read, showed what happened when vested interests became involved in the planning process and there is evidence that Part V of the legislation was also interfered with. This undermined and corrupted the entire planning system and destroyed the countryside. In the future a more accountable and transparent planning system will be needed, with no room for corrupt practices. How will this feed into the national spatial strategy which is under review? I understand work is ongoing on the strategy. We have local, county and regional development plans and so on, but while there is a lot of planning, there is very little action afterwards. How do the representatives feel about this?