Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The majority of people here are not against this concept. We are all in favour of it. We have worked positively on all legislation that has come through here. This legislation came to us on Tuesday night and this is the first time that we have seen the detail that we are being asked to agree. The Government introduced 71 amendments on Report Stage of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act last year. We have to be given time. This is a positive move but it needs to be looked at critically. We have not had the opportunity to do that.

Where does the urban area plan sit in the planning hierarchy? It is not the national development plan, a regional plan, county plan, environs plan or local area plan. Is it part of the county development plan or does it sit outside it, standing in its own right like some of the environs plans around the country that go through the same process as the county development plan? Does the consultation have to follow the same procedures as those plans? I cannot see that with the way I am reading this. The other area I was concerned about was the land-grabbing. Sorry, I will not call it grabbing. There is no reference to public consultation about the initial boundary, which is in amendment No. 112.

Going back to what I raised last night, the more I think about this, the stronger I become on it. The Minister of State said we do not have the expertise and that is why we are considering bringing it in from outside. How do we not have the expertise for our local area, county and regional plans? The expertise at local authority level is there for all those plans and is there for these plans. This should remain in the control of public representatives and we need to return trust on this to public representatives. The Minister of State is saying one thing here yet we are adopting many other higher, greater plans without that cohort of people. I do not see the logic behind it.

Deputy O'Brien found out last night that Bray is one of the areas in this. I am not sure that the local authority in Bray is even aware that this is coming down the track. Since the establishment of the municipal district, it has spent the whole time creating a municipal district plan to encompass the whole municipal district around Bray. Now we are told that there will be another plan which will incorporate part of Dún Laoghaire. Bray will have 75% of the population and landmass with Dún Laoghaire having 25%. We then get into the area of proportionality. Can the smaller side control it? I want to support this legislation. I think it is a solution for the future but we are rushing it and mistakes will be made if we try to ram this through in the next two weeks.