Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to pick up on two or three points, and I am mindful of what the Minister of State said in his responses. Regarding section 5 and section 57 declarations, and I have had a look through the Planning and Development Act, a copy of which I have in front of me, members of the public and politicians would not know if a section 5 or a section 57 declaration had been submitted. We need to look at that again and have a register. Reference was made to an appeal. I have been to a number of local authorities today and no one seems to quite know what happens. Declarations are not laid before anyone. The only way one will find a declaration if one is clever enough, through chief executive's orders, or what we would have known as the county manager's orders and many local authorities are not even getting these. Section 57 and section 5 declarations would be included in them.

On foot of section 57 and section 5 I rigorously and meticulously month in and month out had people hauling trolleys into county hall and I went through everything. At one stage in my office I had thousands of manager's orders and the chief executive used to ask me how I knew everything. It was because I took the bloody time to look and read, but one cannot expect all members to have that amount of time. We have a listing system for planning applications every week in every local authority. We need a system to flag section 5s and 57s because it is about openness and transparency and that is important. How can one have an appeal? It is all on websites. Let us imagine that I am in a little place such as Johnstown in Meath and I live in a little cottage, am 57 years of age and have two lamps, I do not have any IT or a son or daughter to access the Internet. We must be user-friendly for a whole generation of people who want to engage. The first thing they see is something in the sky outside their door and they are told they did not appeal it. What is the process? Who does one register with first? What is the fee? The case then goes to the board. I do not say we must do it all today but let us tease out how section 5 and section 57 declarations come to the attention of the public. I was a councillor for years and I could not find out. One would have to ring up on a regular basis or one would see something or hear a man with a big truck putting something up and that would be the first one would know about something happening. That is an important point.

I wish to reiterate my concern to the Minister of State because I know I will be back to him in a few months. I know there are ten live issues in Dún Laoghaire. I know of three in the Minister of State's county because I happen to be in and out of the area a lot.