Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Cussen and his team and Ms Buckley and hers. We have crossed paths in a positive way many times in the past and I am delighted to see her in the job. She is in the right place and we are very lucky to have her on the board. I say that very sincerely. It is important that we are having a conversation rather than an interrogation.

I will touch on the OPR first. I acknowledge the significant work it does with the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, in the form of training. Mr. Cussen talked about the need for training. Local authority staff are in huge demand and have many demands on their time. The staffs are also ever-changing. I am not that long out of my own local authority and I hardly know anyone in it. Staff are moving on, people are retiring earlier, they are looking for other options or they are simply feeling the pressure. That is the reality.

When I looked at The Irish Times website this morning the headline was "An Bord Pleanála and planning regulator caution against fines ...". This is in instances where planning decisions are made after deadlines, as proposed under the Government's new planning laws. That is what The Irish Times covered, as did the Irish Examinerand a number of other papers. The two bodies before us are at odds with the Government policy or the Government's roll-out of it. I just thought it was an interesting observation. Communication is everything and that is what the public are reading. It appears Mr. Cussen's and Ms Buckley's organisations are not in support of this small element of the Government proposals in the Bill before us, which it says it has engaged extensively with stakeholders on. That raises the question of why. It is important we have a speedy, rapid, efficient and comprehensive response from the board.

I would never buy into the idea of changing the name of An Bord Pleanála. I support An Bord Pleanála. While it does need reform, I will say here in front of Ms Buckley, because of her new position, that I made some freedom of information requests to the board and got a very quick response. I already shared this with the committee some time back. From those letters, it was clear An Bord Pleanála was desperately crying out for staff and resources. Despite this, there was also correspondence on the need for the Department to approve every appointment individually. We have people roaring down the Custom House, so to speak, saying the board is not doing its job while knowing, as I now know, that there have been endless requests in writing for resources for the board. It is important to point that out. I would like to think that, if anyone who worked for the board or who is still there is listening to this meeting, they will know some of us in the Houses understand the difficulties and constraints they were under which they might not have been able to talk about publicly but that we now know about. That is important. I have always found the board to be decent. You do not always get the decisions you want, but there is confidence in the independence of the board and that must always remain.

The question I am asking relates to resources. The board will need resources. The common tenor of both of the papers before us today is that it is about resources, underfunding and underinvestment. That is what both organisations are saying. That is what is captured in today's headline in The Irish Times. Where do we get the funding to do it? I would like to hear the witnesses' views but I do not believe we can continue to pass increased fees on to the public. I believe that is what is coming. I have heard indications there is an idea that fees should be increased. I do not believe in that. I believe we should allow citizens to engage in the process. We have great stakeholder engagement with the board and in the planning process. At one stage, the Government wanted to introduce a fee for our democratically elected city and county councillors to make a submission to the planning authority. As the political regime was tight at the time, we blocked that but I do not think we would succeed today in light of the current numbers in Leinster House. I would like to hear what the witnesses have to say about resources. Where do they see them coming from? Is it from central government? Does either body support the concept of increasing planning fees generally or within board proceedings?