Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hogan and his team for the presentation and for all of their efforts on this issue. I will make some opening remarks and then ask some questions. In my view, a good planning system is one that makes high-quality planning decisions in a timely manner but with meaningful public participation. That is something for which many of us in this committee have argued for a long time. In that context, the shift towards a plan-led approach, as Mr. Hogan mentioned in response to Deputy McAuliffe, is the right way for us to proceed. What I would ask, however, is for whom and for what is the plan? At the centre of that, it must meet the needs of people and ensure we are able to meet our emissions reductions targets and climate goals.

I have two other general comments. It is important, and I believe it will be the case, that this committee has a fact-based discussion on our planning system because I often see things in the public domain which are very far from facts as to where our planning system is at. I also believe we should not be scapegoating our planning system, good, bad and ugly, for policy failures elsewhere. If this Bill is to work - I am not yet convinced that it will work but I am open to being convinced of that over the next five weeks - we must strengthen the bits of the planning system that already work well and could work better. We also have to reform those bits of the planning system that do not work. Crucially, we also have to resource it because we cannot have a plan-led system unless we have a very significant increase in resources, both for the local authorities and for what will, after the passing of this Bill, be the planning commission.

My first questions are on the area of resourcing. Mr. Hogan outlined the three new plan structures sitting underneath the development plan. We also had some discussion previously around statutory timelines. In the briefing memorandum provided to members in advance of the session, there is a reference to a request, as part of a business case, for resources for the planning function of local authorities. In quarter 2 of last year, local authorities were indicating they needed an additional 541 posts in planning. Can Mr. Hogan confirm, in respect of that memo, that the request was to meet the local authorities’ current requirements under the existing Planning and Development Act, as opposed to the new and very significantly increased requirements under this legislation? Has there been any assessment or analysis of what the workforce requirements would be to achieve the plan-led approach and statutory timelines envisaged in the Bill?