Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will make a couple of points. I want to respond to the Minister. There is an issue in that during pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill we heard from people working in this area, who gave us advice on it. We are now in a situation where the Minister is not accepting their advice or view, and that he knows best over and above people working in the area. They very clearly said that the best way to address planning delays is to resource the system properly in terms of planners. The Minister quoted some figures. The business case for resources for the planning function of local authorities sought 541 additional posts for the planning sections of local authorities just to deal with their current workload, not to mention the additional workload coming from the Bill. Out of that, my understanding from the figures the Minister gave us yesterday is that 100 new posts have been sanctioned, 32 of which have been filled. There is a huge way to go just to meet that figure of 541. Thirty-two posts have been filled out of the 541 needed now. That is my understanding based on the figures the Minister gave us. It is a huge amount.

I will read one very brief quote from a report commissioned by the Government. Recommendation 25 of that report, on increasing the resources available to the planning system, states, "In order to ensure proper planning and sustainable development, it is essential that local authorities and An Bord Pleanala have sufficient professional planners available in relation to the development of planning policy and the operation of the development control process." That is from the second Bacon report in June 2000. Here we are 24 years later and, out of 541 additional posts needed in local authorities, 32 are filled just to deal with the current workload.