Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I have one final comment on amendment No. 39. It obviously reinforces amendment No. 38 in terms of effective public participation. Effective public participation is not just having a meeting where people say stuff. Ultimately, for public participation to be meaningful, it has to in some way influence the outcome. Killian Woods had a very interesting article in the Business Postpublished on its website yesterday:

Builders, NGOs and planners demand planning reform - now as it is being delivered nobody wants it. The Government's landmark planning Bill was supposed to speed up planning applications, but many industry observers feel that's already happened.

In that article there is a really interesting quote from Gavin Lawlor, president of the Irish Planning Institute. It is not a radical body. It is very cautious and represents the wide spectrum of public sector, semi-State and private sector planning professionals. He said that his body, the Irish Planning Institute, which represents public and private sector professionals involved in planning, had lodged many submissions to the Government recommending how the law, which we are dealing with today, could be improved.

Lawlor feels that they have been ignored: 'We're disappointed at the level of engagement we've had. The submission that we initially made to the joint Oireachtas committee has been given little regard in terms of framing the amendments.'

He added he is concerned that the government is rushing through the new planning laws.

'We're fully convinced, it's too fast. We welcome meaningful change if it's going to improve the system, but it has to be done in a considered way. Not at speed. ... Nobody is asking the government to do it at speed. Nobody that I'm aware of.'

I am putting that on the record because what that shows is that even within the confines of the legislative process and with pre-legislative scrutiny, the body that represents planners - this is the Planning and Development Bill and these are the men and women who will have to implement it whether in local authorities, making decisions, with public, private or semi-State bodies making development consent applications - are telling the Minister of State they are disappointed with the level of engagement and that the Government has given little regard in terms of framing the amendments. Imagine what they feel like with respect to the regulations. The Minister of State should come back to the committee and set out any intention he has to improve the process but until such a time as that is done, I am certainly pressing an amendment that I believe will at least give us some level of formalised legislative process for consultation.

I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's response to the Irish Planning Institute's, IPI, comments on the Bill and its view that there has been inadequate consultation on it.