Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of important points to raise. That the staff have been sanctioned by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government really enforces the argument we are making in respect of total interdependency and the inappropriate nature of the council in being the competent authority and the planning authority. It is the body that comes within the budget of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The levels and pay grades announced are completely out of kilter with those in the rest of the area of aviation regulation, for example. The pay grades are nothing like those within an IAA or CAR equivalent. I refer to the high-level technical expertise needed in this area. It shows a misconception or lack of understanding and is more prevalent in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government than the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport because, when we had briefings, the staff who attended from the Department responsible for the environment were saying the council could, of course, do as described, that it would receive a planning consideration and go to the Department responsible for roads or water services to get advice and factor it in. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the point to state a competent authority has the right, when the planning authority goes to it, to state, "Thus far and no further." The competent authority must be obeyed. That the authority can be duly ignored by the planning system represents an unhealthy influence on the part of the Department responsible for the environment. It actually undermines what should be the independent role of a noise regulator in that regard. It is actually very unhelpful.

My other point is on the need. It is the case that we need a competent authority. That is absolutely true and we have long been campaigning to try to have one. How time-sensitive is it and what would be the impact? Who will suffer because of the delay? The DAA, for example, is on record as stating it does not mind at all who the competent authority is as long as we get our act together and get the legislation through, thus providing for more clarity. What we are saying strongly is that we all want to see legislation and see this process through, but we want to see it being set up on the right basis in order that we can do both.

A reply I received to a parliamentary question to the Minister in December referred to the plans for the new commission for aviation regulation. It indicated that work was well under way. It referred to a high-level project management board, to much due diligence work being done and to numerous working groups.

Discussions had begun with the trade union Fórsa. It involved complex competencies but the Minister was looking at it. There were a number of stages to be done but it was under way. If we are doing the job we should be doing it right. We need to do it right. I appeal to Fianna Fáil. We can set up a competent authority, but let us set it up in the flipping right way because this is going to be in place for years to come. That is important. The Minister has not really addressed those points at all.