Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter. Will the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government consider the reform of An Bord Pleanála given the overwhelming view of the population that the board is incapable of operating independently, since it is bound by Government policy in making its decisions?

I attended a meeting of several hundred people about a proposed asbestos recycling facility in Killala recently. Nobody present spoke in favour of the development. I attended a demonstration involving 2,000 people two days ago in Killala. They abhor the possibility of this facility being located at Killala. The only people who have spoken in favour of the facility are the company's managing director and public relations man.

However, local people are concerned, particularly when they reflect on the decision by An Bord Pleanála regarding the Ringaskiddy incinerator. There was strong opposition locally to building the incinerator, including a written objection signed by 20,000 people. Despite the refusal of the necessary rezoning by Cork County Council, An Bord Pleanála overruled its own inspectors who had highlighted a long list of reasons planning permission should have been refused for the incinerator, thereby, upholding the view of the county council and the people. The board ruled that the incinerator should be built because it is Government policy.

That is amazing. I do not know how the board can be described as independent when it favoured the proposers of the incinerator because their proposal was in line with Government policy. What was the point in the board making, an adjudication and proceeding with its investigations when it was a foregone conclusion? This was a waste of taxpayers' money. The internal structure of An Bord Pleanála must be fatally flawed if it does not heed its own recommendations. The Minister of State and the Government are accountable for their decisions. However, natural justice does not appear to prevail in the case of An Bord Pleanála. It would be perverse in the extreme if this facility was allowed in Killala, when everybody in the place is against it. There will be the mother of battles if there is any attempt to send this project to the county council.

This is not the NIMBY syndrome. We must have a sense of proportion. The Minister said in a reply on this issue in the Dáil on 2 November that additional capacity is required nationally to deal with the hazardous waste we generate. However, this area has been totally neglected. It is a wasteground from a burnt out Asahi facility. The area needs the jobs that all other places get, not the jobs that nobody wants. We want necessary infrastructure and to keep our children in the area. The fear is that even if the county council goes against this, An Bord Pleanála will do a Ringaskiddy on it. An Bord Pleanála overrules the inspectors in 10% of cases. If this happens, the reason should be clearly stated.

There is a lack of democracy in planning. I suggest we should have a planning monitoring committee, like the rural water monitoring committee, that would shadow each local authority and would comprise local elected and rural stakeholder representatives. These should have the right of appeal to a national monitoring committee that could directly appeal to the Minister. This would return democracy to the planning system through allowing applications be kicked back to the planners for re-evaluation where indicated. This would reduce appeals to An Bord Pleanála.

An Bord Pleanála is seen as an anti-rural group. This is often attributed to the lack of proper representation of the rural groups on the board. The Minister of State should do something to ensure such representation on the board. That lack is a significant deficit. The Irish Rural Dwellers Association was set up as a result of a groundswell of opinion regarding what is happening around the country. The association, in which I am involved, has 1,600 members, but gets no funding from the Government. Organisations such as An Taisce get funding, but the IRDA, which is truly democratic, gets none. It should get at least the same funding as An Taisce. The reply given on the matter in the Dáil gives no comfort. Government policy is that if everything is all right with the EPA etc., this may be approved.

I speak a great deal on the issue of jobs and what is needed in my area. We need fair play. We need power, roads and rail. We also need the other essential infrastructure necessary to make the area competitive. Most of all we need to maintain the infrastructure we have. I seek reform of An Bord Pleanála in that regard.

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