Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I thank the officials for being here. What is clear, and I have not seen this in a long time in this committee, is the cross-party support for continuing to support the consultation channels that have been established for city and county councils. It is coming over strongly and I expect to see that reflected by the officials when the Ministers are engaged on this issue. It is a very important thing.

I want to make a point. Mr. Hogan has stated on a number of occasion that elected members like councillors have a right to make a submission on a planning permission without a charge. He will recall, or Mr. Terry Sheridan certainly will, that it was a tough battle I had in Seanad Éireann against all the Government parties in the previous Administration. They opposed it. They did not even produce, were not able to produce, or chose not to produce tellers to count the vote. That is the reality of it. There was huge resistance by the officials and by the Minister. On the suggestion today that this was a great opportunity, while I do not doubt Mr. Hogan's commitment to it, I must say the Department was not supportive of it. The Official Report shows there was huge resistance by the then Minister and Minister of State to this. However, we have it now. By the way, it was agreed for primary legislation but it was not embedded into the primary legislation. Instead it was a statutory instrument. Consequently, we almost have to watch that space and guard it.

Mr. Hogan is suggesting that is an important mechanism and I agree, but they are unique people who represent their communities and have a democratic mandate. What I like about that process is it is a written, open and transparent process. If we have learned anything from planning tribunals it is that we must have an open and transparent process of engagement with elected members and politicians and the planning authorities. I propose that be retained and we will watch that space carefully. We should also continue with the consultation channel that exists under the Act, currently in section 8(4) and (5), so we retain that. They are the two strong messages I wish to leave with the officials today.

Back in the early days of Rebuilding Ireland we were told one of the key measures would be that we would have a state-of-the-art information technology system for An Bord Pleanála. We still do not have it. It has gone on for years. We have been promised by the board and officials from it keep coming in. They have loads of resources, they have the ability and they have the capacity. This hinges on my final point that it is about public engagement and about ensuring there is confidence in our planning system and planning processes. We all agree that needs to happen and be cemented and secured. The officials may not be in a position to fully tell us today but will someone chase up An Bord Pleanála so we can get a written briefing on where we stand after all the years of promises about a state-of-the-art system? Covid taught us one thing, namely, people want to engage, to be smart and to use technology. We must use technology within the planning systems and that must be a priority for us. Perhaps the Department will come back to the committee with an updated report on where we are on this aspect of good modern planning.