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

I thank Deputies O'Callaghan and Ó Broin for their contributions. The Attorney General advises policies with Government. We have to heed the Attorney General's advice. That is clear and that is how every Government should operate. The Attorney General and his team, and indeed the previous Attorney General, have been incredibly helpful in relation to getting this far with this legislation. I am not going to go down a rabbit hole with the IPI. I respect all groups and different opinions there as well. We respect professionals in that area. People will have different views on issues. Some planners would argue that the status quo should be maintained, that there are no issues and nothing is wrong.

We have got to go back and have a look at why we are actually bringing forward new planning legislation. Planning guides everything, including what any community or individual does in their lives. It is how our country is going to develop, what schools are going to be built, how it is going to be planned, how people are going to live, how communities will develop. It is crucially important and there has been a growing frustration among the general public about how planning matters have been handled over a long number of years, with delays in the planning system, and decisions being made in areas where they probably should not be. There have been mistakes in the past at policy level as well.

In practice, when you talk to normal people out there, it is very difficult for them to understand in many instances why things take so long, and why there are so many hoops for people to jump through. We need an efficient planning system that is effective and supports the development of our State. Sometimes those who are experts in that regard forget that, and they forget that really, the legislation and the system itself is there to support the development of the country and the communities within it, how they are going to develop, and how we are going to move forward as a country. Very few people argue that the status quoshould just be maintained as it is with no changes required but there are some who do. There are some who do not like change at all, and that is fine but we are moving forward with this.

On the declaration specificially, I want to say this, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have said it to the Chair as well - we are working right now to refine this from a third-party perspective. With the first party, right now, I think we all agree that the situation as it is cannot be maintained, where someone does not have a right even to submit their side of the situation. That needs to change, and we have been very clear on that. Deputy Ó Broin has highlighted issues with competing section 5 declarations from different local authorities. Sometimes that is done strategically. There have been issues with court hearings, be it developers or opponents to developments, and from that you will see section 5 declarations going in to different local authorities, maybe with different nuances to them, where they are transboundary as well and actually getting differently-composed applications where planning authorities come to different conclusions. That creates a problem.

What I am saying to Deputy O'Callaghan and to the Chair, Deputy Matthews, is that with regard to what third parties are and how we can define that to make sure that there is that interaction, we are working on that right now. We will work on that in advance of Report Stage. Members are perfectly entitled to move their amendments as well but I get the points that have been raised. I have received the feedback on that to see if we can balance it in a better way. I do not want to set up a parallel planning application process either. I do not think any of us wants to do that. It is sometimes seen that this could be the way in which this is being used. I am telling the Deputies now on Committee Stage that we are working on this and refining the wording, with a particular focus on how third parties would interact, and what third parties would interact. I have given an example, for argument's sake, of environmental groups. That is just by way of an example to give Deputies an idea. They have mentioned next-door neighbours and that type of thing is being looked through in conjunction with the Attorney General.