Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend An Bord Pleanála on the documentation and the annual report as well. They are good and easy to read. I come from a slightly different background and I do not condemn An Bord Pleanála or the local authorities about planning. They have been underfunded and under-resourced for a long time. I do not expect Mr. Walsh to comment on what I am about to say but I will preface my remarks by saying we are now in a position where we are rushing through, and putting a statutory obligation on An Bord Pleanála to rush through, housing developments and other strategic developments that should be going through an adequately resourced and funded local authority. We are undermining democracy and the participation of citizens. From a legal background, one matter that always struck me as I listened to the judges was the emphasis they put on the trinity. I want to repeat that here and I will go on to ask some questions. The trinity in planning law is the local authority, the developer and the citizen. The burden on the citizen is huge. I do not like the word "objection". I have rarely seen objectors in my 17 years at local authority level. I have seen committed people. One does see one or two people who object for the sake of it but most people are committed when they go to the trouble of making a submission. I have seen the role of the public in the planning process significantly reduced to the point that it has been almost entirely removed. That is to the detriment of our democracy.

I have just returned from the Dáil where the Tánaiste justified the legislation the Government brought in giving An Bord Pleanála the power to look at strategic housing developments. He said it was taking 75 weeks to process an application for 100 houses. That was one of the reasons he gave, which I wrote down as he spoke. I was totally unaware of that and I spent 17 years at local authority level. What was missing, since 2009 in particular, was application, staff and public housing.