Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I welcome the Labour Party's contribution to the planning process in the Bill before the House. It is worthy and the Green Party will certainly recommend that it be approved by the House. It seeks to remove the step of going to the High Court and that is welcome. It will scare the living daylights out of anybody working on a building site given that it targets all persons involved in the direction, management or funding of the project but we have to accept that as a step in the right direction. On that basis it is a worthy Bill.

To expand the argument, not only do we need to place a greater duty of care on those involved in a building site but we need to revise the building regulations, the planning regulations and provide a decent standard of enforcement of the planning and building regulations. There is a need for better design guidance. We have to ensure a more considered relationship exists between developers and the local authority. I am not talking about councillors, although I could speak at length about elected representatives at local level, but county managers and their staff. That relationship can be perceived as unhealthy.

For example, advertisements in the local authority yearbooks and diaries are often placed side by side with the contact details for the relevant officials. I note in the frontispiece of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown yearbook and diary that Castle Park Construction Limited wishes Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council continued success in the coming year, as I am sure we all do. The bookmark provided by McGarrell Reilly Homes has been placed with the contact details for the planning and development department. Across the page is an advertisement for Ballygowan Developments.

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