Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the guests. We have had a good meeting. I cannot let the opportunity go without wishing Kevin Kelly well in his new job. More importantly, with that emblem of Mayo at the back of him, I wish him every success for the weekend. I look forward to that and I think everybody will be looking forward to that bit of light relief in sport. I would also like to particularly welcome Mary Henchy, who is the director of planning in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which is the county council that I was formerly a representative of.

It has been an engaging meeting. One of the key and recurring themes of today and of the meeting the other day is the commonality and sense of purpose and commitment the members of this committee have. We are all very close in what we want to see and achieve. There is no point in looking back. Mistakes were made and the SHD process was flawed. Many of us said that at the time but that is where we are and we are moving on. We have a housing crisis and a resource crisis within the councils.

At the outset, I want to thank Robin Mandal. In the short time available I will not be able to ask him much about it but he has made a very detailed, comprehensive and impressive submission. It is something the committee will be drawing on and trying to incorporate into our deliberations going forward. I want to acknowledge that to him.

More importantly, I want to acknowledge the brave and courageous citizens who put their money where their mouths were and who took judicial reviews. They were forced into a situation where there was no appeal process. There was a great insult and flaw in the process as far as citizens were concerned, including the people Mary Conway talked about earlier on. I am impressed with all the contributions from the CCMA, here and through our ongoing discussions in recent weeks. I mention the constant and recurring theme of public participation and the feeling, as Mr. Mandal talked about, of alienation. Sitting county councillors felt alienated from the planning process, as did Oireachtas Members. We saw their names appearing on various appeals and litigation. That is the reality of it; people were frustrated. We all want to go forward.

Our guests from the CCMA mentioned the significance of the additional information. I share their concern so I will not ask them a question about that. They are on the money and spot on in what they say. We need to revisit this and we cannot allow it to be closed down. It is an important process. I used an expression that I did not mean in a derogatory way. I suggested that in some way it could put manners on people, send them back to the drawing board and outline that more information and clarification are needed to determine applications, rather than refusing them. I was particularly interested in the CCMA's suggestion and recommendation of introducing a fee. That shocked me slightly and I want to hear from the construction industry on this. I want the CCMA to explain and justify the rationale for that request. I also want it to confirm the levels of discussion it has had with the Department about the introduction of this fee because that is really important.

There is another question I want to ask the CCMA. I am particularly close to elected sitting county councillors and the following is an issue they are raising with me.

I refer to the statutory council meeting on an application submitted under the old SHD process. As it is important that we have the local knowledge and input of our elected representatives, I ask the witnesses to talk about that. Does the CCMA support the retention of the statutory meetings and engagement with the elected members? I hope it does and I would like to hear its representatives say so today. It is an open and transparent process and is one that is recorded.

Lastly, I would like to hear the views of the Mr. Parlon and the Construction Industry Federation on the suggestion made by the CCMA to charge a fee for pre-planning meetings.