Mr. Niall Cussen:

I thank Ms Walsh and Mr. Hogan for their contributions, as well as committee members. Deputy Barry Cowen raised some very specific matters. I note that the legislation refers to a broad level of consistency between the plans. That provides for autonomy and the outworking of issues locally to be reconciled and worked with at regional and national level. We are certainly not enthusiasts for a tablet of stone approach, nor does the legislation support such slavish adherence. As Deputy Cowen knows from his area, issues need to be worked out at local level. He raised some issues, of which we were very well aware, involving aquifers and groundwater sensitivity in County Offaly.

The legislation envisages that a broad level of strategic detail will be pinned down at national and regional levels but, necessarily, there will be a more detailed outworking of that at local level. The legislation mentions the word consistency and not adherence or compliance. Obviously the former is a lot stronger than the term "have regard to", which was the subject of previous criticism. A previous Government introduced the changes to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 and the language was adjusted in light of court judgments from a previous time.

Ms Walsh has dealt very well with the point made about the rural aspect. We are not rewriting the rural housing policy in the context of a national planning framework. Please bear in mind that the local authorities that deal with rural areas encounter various geographical, socio-economic and all sorts of physical aspects, as alluded to earlier.

I assume that the Deputy will agree with me, in the context of promoting a good degree of choice in rural areas, that Ireland has an immensely strong rural identity which is part and parcel of our culture and way of life. It is important that we give rural towns and villages a fighting chance and provide a choice to people in terms of where they live, particularly when dealing with remote rural communities such as the villages located near the Slieve Bloom mountains in Offaly. Also, some of the small villages located in the western part of the county have suffered for many years due to economic decline, etc. The message put forward by the national planning framework and capital planning, as shown by our efforts to support local authorities in implementing same at a local level, is very much that those towns need a greater fighting chance when it comes to competing for the available level of interest from people who want to put down roots or set up businesses or whatever in those areas. As the Deputy will be well aware, there are not enough sites available in some of those towns and there is a lack of water services and also derelict buildings. The town of Banagher springs to mind. The purpose of the rural regeneration and development fund is to tackle these issues. It does not put towns and villages ahead of rural areas in terms of housing choice. We want to provide a range of accommodation choices so that people can put a roof over their heads. Too often, either because the site has been made freely available by a family member, which is much better than buying expensive zoned land in a small town or village, or the local authority cannot provide enough serviced sites, smaller towns and villages never get a look in and they often become the locations where social housing is provided but not private housing. People make an economic decision based on a sensible decision-making approach.

In terms of the national planning framework and regeneration funds, we work with local authorities to bring forward their ideas and create synergies with the broader housing funding. We want to create opportunities for smaller towns and villages, in a rural development context, to become the focus for a series of things to happen. We want people to choose to live in such places and set up businesses and, therefore, we must support their broader social and economic life. One rarely achieves planning objectives through restrictions. One creates planning objectives by creating opportunities, which is what this document seeks to do.

Deputy Cowen and Senator Boyhan have raised many issues about advice and training. We acknowledge that decision-making for planning has become more complex. Local authority members have more issues to deal with and, in some cases, larger geographical areas. It is very important, in the context of good decision-making, that we support elected members at local level through effective training, advice and so on. My colleague, Mr. Hogan, has reminded me that an office for planning regulation will be established when the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill is enacted. One of the three pillars for establishing such an office is to ensure that there is effective training, education, technical support, etc. for members. We has not spent enough time and effort on increasing awareness and improving the technical understanding of the various legislative requirements. It is very important that we do so because one of the areas that may become more litigious in the future, which has happened in the environment impact assessment, EIA, process, is how environmental assessments and all of the legal requirements are reflected in the development plan process.

Like all of my colleagues, I worked in local authorities for many years before joining the Department. The Department is lucky to have staff who understand how the system works at a grassroot level and central level. I understand, having worked as part of the executive for local authorities, that we very much worked for the executive and on behalf of the members of local authorities. I understood that our role was to give that advice, engage, listen, check and double check the situation. I shall leave that question there as to the appropriateness or otherwise of adding a third party to the advice-giving role for members as part of the deliberative and policy processes in terms of planning matters, etc. The role of the office for planning regulation will put in place a rigorous and regular process of training, support and advice giving on a regional basis, quarterly basis, etc. That is something we need to progress, as a matter of urgency and I hope that will happen when the legislation is enacted.

The Department has always supported the work of the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, etc. We are always available, and very anxious to make ourselves available, to those representative organisations for local authority members. We are always happy to answer all of their questions.

My broader team of colleagues and I are always happy to engage with local authority members but obviously not in the context of council meetings. In a previous life I recall that a number of workshops were provided to elected members in the midland counties. The Department could arrange similar workshops now. It would allow the Department to answer questions from the elected members. It would afford the Department an opportunity to explain the rationale behind its policy and how that works at local level, etc. It is difficult for us to constantly work with 31 local authorities. We are more than willing to make ourselves available to facilitate workshops that provide technical training and advice giving exercises. We provide technical support to local authorities in terms of their planning functions. We have no difficulty with interacting with members whether it is through strategic policy committees, SPCs, or working groups, etc. I wish to stress that we are more than willing and able to do so.