Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We also believe this Bill is a badly needed and welcome development in our planning architecture. There is a subtle line between having too much power going out of a Department, losing in-house capability, and having too much power remain there. In this instance it is right to transfer day-to-day regulation of the planning system away from the Department and the Minister. The overall approach is right and we need to get the legislation right.

Amendment No. 14 is in our mind just a drafting amendment. We thought it improved the wording. Amendments Nos. 12, 13 and 15 are similar to each other in nature. One of the ways in which our planning system is currently very mixed and variable is the application of Part VIII. Some authorities apply it in a very appropriate and proper manner while others use it as a short cut, according to a number of commentators.

The purpose of amendments Nos. 12, 13 and 15 is to provide oversight of how the Part VIII system works. There are other ways in which it could be improved in terms of what type of reporting of information should take place, but that is one of the intentions. It was the Mullaghmore decision that first changed the entire system where the State had to comply with the law. In some local authorities the Part VIII system is still used as a means whereby the State can in some ways bypass the law slightly. The amendments seek to strengthen the performance and application of Part VIII by giving the regulator a clear direction to review it. That is the intent.