Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hogan and his team for attending. I took the time this morning to look back at the discussions we have had on these issues at previous meetings. I draw the witnesses' attention to the meeting of Tuesday, 10 November 2020, which was attended by Mr. Hogan and his colleague, Mr. Terry Sheridan, and witnesses from An Bord Pleanála. All along, there has been a consistency from An Bord Pleanála in stating that it has enough resources to do the job, yet it clearly did not deliver on some aspects of it. The members of the board must think that aspect is important.

I welcome this pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. Members of the committee will recall that the Minister wrote to us on 23 July 2021 suggesting that we waive pre-legislative scrutiny. If we have learned anything over the summer months - various media commentators have talked about this - it is that rushed legislation is bad legislation. I am glad, therefore, that we took a decision to have this pre-legislative scrutiny. It was not a given and, as I said, there was a request to waive it. I am glad we did not accede to the Minister's request. That is an important point.

I thank the committee secretariat for circulating the regulatory impact analysis, RIA, before today's meeting. It makes for very interesting reading. I saw it for the first time last night and the commentary it contains is particularly interesting. The regulatory impact is something we always must keep an eye to when we are looking at new legislation. We had a mid-term review of the SHD process, so the issues being raised should not come as any great surprise to the Department. All of these problems were raised and discussed. We know there were 22 recommendation in this report, which was published by the Department in September 2019. The issues were discussed by councillors and, indeed, by Senators and Deputies.

As a committee, we should revisit this report and look at every detail of it because a lot of work was done there and the people who made those submissions felt they were dumped. It is very interesting to see that the recurring themes about which we are talking today were in this report. As far as I am concerned, the SHD system was a total failure. Yes, it fast-tracked planning applications but this was not reflected through the commencements we expected or the delivery of housing. That is an important point and we have to accept that did not happen.

There was a concept and suggestion that An Bord Pleanála should somehow become a one-stop shop which would cut times and so on. It did nothing like it. It ultimately cut out locally elected representatives, local authorities and planning authorities. It had a very bad impact. It also cut out third-party appeals. I have always maintained that it was in breach of the Aarhus Convention. It was not acceptable as regards public engagement in the planning authority. I will, in some way, acknowledge the Green Party. While it did not get it over the line during its discussions on the programme for Government last year, it did get a commitment that it would end. I hope it will end fast. The main fast-tracking we need to do is the fast-tracking of an end to this process. It is a bad one.

I will make one call. The County and City Management Association is coming in next week. I note that the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, were not invited to participate in this process. The Chair has indicated that we will have more meetings on this. That is really important. I understand that the president of the AILG, Councillor Mary Hoade, wrote to the Minister and the Department to make two asks, which I will now reiterate. The first was for a mandatory consultation channel for elected councillors similar to that included in sections 8(4) and 8(5) of the 2016 Act. That worked. Let us look at something that worked. That engagement worked.

The second ask relates to a really controversial issue, that of the prohibition on characteristics conflicting with a planning authority's development plan being included by the applicant, that is, the developer. I refer to applicants coming out and saying that they are going to contravene the plan. There should be a prohibition on that. The AILG has written to the Department, as Mr. Hogan may be aware. I believe these two asks are very reasonable. I want to see them met.

I am delighted that we are welcoming back the two-stage process. We should never have got this far. We have to accept that the Government got it wrong. Some of the people on this committee were there at the time. We said it and pointed out all of these pitfalls but I just want to make the point that mistakes were made and that it was wrong. I hope the Department will take that on board. Will Mr. Hogan comment on those two objectives of the AILG? What is the likelihood they will be achieved? I hope he will be positive and supportive on behalf of the Department with regard to those two requests.