Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It might have been real money but one's name and family are worth more than that, as is politics. People have let down the political system, the people who elected them and the community. My name is worth more to me than £1,000, £1,500 or whatever the case may be.

I come from a constituency where that problem did not exist until this year. In fact, at times we were looking for developers to build houses, but that is no longer the case. Will the Minister, as a former councillor, review the drafting of development plans? The officials have all the resources of the State at their disposal. They have consultants, engineers and others advising them on what is right. When a development plan is being adopted, councillors should be able to employ an independent consultant who will advise them separately from the officials. The officials have their own people and resources but the councillors should at least be advised by a professional person.

Deputy McCormack is correct about lobbying, which has never stopped. In fact I had first-hand experience recently, even though I am not a member of the council, of lobbying in my area in Westport. A parcel of land was zoned as agricultural and a certain sporting organisation wanted that zoning to be maintained. It wanted to buy the land and develop it into a sports ground. It was zoned as commercial and was sold for €3.5 million last week. That is what rezoning means. A bit of land that was worth possibly €100,000 as agricultural land was sold for €3.5 million as commercial land.

Local authority officials should not have all of the power in the planning process. There should be a committee comprising elected representatives and planners from the council with an independent planning officer who will adjudicate on a decision on which he or she believes there will be no agreement. As a former member of a local authority, I feel we have given away all its powers.

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