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

The Minister of State is digging a hole for himself because the 2020 guidelines were heavily criticised by planning authorities in a number of large urban centres. I recall talking to two senior planning officials in two local authorities who complained that nobody even talked to them about the regulations. I have no idea whether that is true and I do not imagine that the Minister of State could answer the question. It goes to show that here is an example, even if it is at Oireachtas or public engagement, at a very minimum, one would assume that there should be a statutory requirement that if, for example, section 28 guidelines on planning enforcement are being introduced in an era of Covid, with all sorts of heightened issues around insurance, worker safety and restrictions, the Government would have to, without question, engage with the relevant local authorities, planning professionals and the Irish Planning Institute. It may be that the Department will say it did consult.

I must say that from my conversations, a number of senior planners were highly critical of that process. I remember one of them indicating that they felt the particular sets of guidelines were unenforceable. That may be true or not but it was their opinion. I cannot think of any set of circumstances where you would not need to consult with somebody outside of Government. Smart and all as the Government is, and I will defer to the Minister of State's superior knowledge of these things, it seems to me there is a gaping hole. If we decide to introduce a national planning policy statement that proves controversial, what happens if it is legally challenged and the Government is not able to say that it consulted with this or that expert or whoever else? Why do I raise that point? The section 28 guidelines were at the centre of a dramatic upsurge in judicial reviews of strategic housing developments. It caused enormous delays and conflicts and there was significant undermining of public confidence in the planning system. It repeatedly fell foul of the law. This is another example of the Government repeating a similar mistake and I urge the Minister of State to rethink it.