Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling the amendments. As I did not get an opportunity to respond to the Second Stage debate on the Bill in the Dáil due to the time having elapsed, I want to put what we are doing here in context. I welcome the broad agreement on the legislation. It will reinstate the two-stage planning process and put planning decisions back in the hands of the local authorities, which is where they should be. That is something in which I firmly believe. These amendments relate to public participation. Many residents felt they could not participate because applications were made directly to the board under the SHD process. If people were not happy with that decision, while they had some input in a process through their councillors, which with I would not have been particularly happy, there was recourse to the courts through a judicial review. We are reversing that now for these developments, and rightly so. That means at the pre-application stage, on which I made amendments to the Bill in the Seanad, the records of a pre-application meeting with a developer must be kept and published, and the opinion on what is being asked for at the pre-application stage must also be kept and published with the file. Resident and interest groups will get to make observations, and rightly so, on any planing application at the beginning of the planning process once the application is lodged. A pre-application stage does not necessarily bring about an application. We are also restoring democracy to planning at a local level, effectively, to make our planning system more efficient. This is one of a number of measures the Government will bring forward. This legislation will not merely stand on its own.

Effectively, we are restoring the input that we want people to have. I accepted two amendments in the Seanad covering transparency of the pre-application process in order that people would know what has been discussed at pre-application stage, what has been agreed, what has been asked for and, furthermore, what opinion the local authority has given on the pre-application. This is important and fundamental, and it is tied into the process.

We are ensuring people will be able to make observations to their local authority once an application is submitted, as should be normal in large-scale developments. Furthermore, when any large-scale residential development, LRD, application is lodged, every elected member of that local authority will be advised, as a matter of course, and not on an ad hocbasis, that an application and its reference number has been lodged and that it is in the planning process in order that local elected members are aware of what applications are in planning.

I closely examined these amendments. I wanted to give the overall context of what is being done under this legislation. It appears the proposed amendment might have its origins in the initial process outlined in the general scheme. It may also be that Deputies wish to amend the provisions in section 32(c) and (d) of the principal Act, as inserted by section 3. However, as drafted, the amendment would technically provide for a further new consultation process, which could have quite significant impacts on timelines. I do not think any of us want that.

Deputy McAuliffe referenced a means of involving many different community groups. The Deputy and myself met residents of Santry on the general issue covered in the Bill. What residents wanted was a say in planning, and rightly so, and an end to the SHDs. In this legislation we are restoring the primacy of development plans, local area plans and master plans. Our planning must be plan-led and development-plan led. Other contributions were made on Second Stage on ministerial guidelines. I intend to examine that in the future and I take this opportunity to state that.

However, in the context of this legislation and the fact we need to move forward on it and have the new legislation and regulations in place by 17 December, I am not in a position to accept the amendments. Regarding the suggestion of how we might structure something around the PPN to make the process streamlined, I will examine that in more detail before Report Stage. However, I cannot accept the amendments, as drafted. I thank the Deputies for the time and effort they have put into tabling them.