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

The problem is that the Government's view is completely at variance with the Mahon tribunal’s recommendations, including with respect to the Planning Regulator. I remind the Minister of State of what Mahon said with regard to this specific issue and to who should have responsibility for what, namely, the Minister or the regulator. The tribunal recommended that the Minister’s ability to give directions to regional authorities and local planning authorities should be entrusted to a planning regulator. That is not what the Government has in this Bill nor in the legislation underpinning the Planning Regulator. As I explained earlier, the Planning Regulator is independent in its functions. It makes an assessment of whether plan A or plan B is materially consistent with national planning policy statements and it makes a recommendation to the Minister to issue a direction. In this instance, the Minister of State is correct. The Minister then seeks approval because it is an urgent direction to a chief executive who gets approval from the Government. I presume the Minister of State will accept that this is not what the Mahon tribunal recommended. It wanted that function to rest with a fully independent regulator, not the Minister. Therefore, what is proposed results in a further over-centralisation of power in the hands of the Minister, albeit, in this instance, with the sanction of the Government. I will ask the Minister of State again - I suspect I will not get a reply - why the Government did not accept the Mahon tribunal recommendations. These are very important checks and balances on the over-concentration of power in the hands of the Minister or, indeed, of the Government. What is wrong with the Mahon tribunal recommendations in this regard? This matter is directly relevant to section 65 and my amendment.