Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)

Before the commencement of Private Members' business, I again remind members that the subject matter of the motion relates in part to a sitting tribunal of inquiry established by the Houses under the relevant Acts. As Members are aware, the Chair has ruled on a number of occasions that issues currently before a tribunal are not a matter for the Dáil. The Dáil must not attempt to have a parallel tribunal on these matters. While the motion has broad policy implications which are clearly in order for debate, reference to direct evidence before a tribunal by named or identifiable individuals who have not been convicted of any offence should not be made. There is an onus on Members to ensure their contributions are not in breach of Standing Order No. 56 which states:

[A] matter shall not be raised in such an overt manner so that it appears to be an attempt by the Oireachtas to encroach on the functions of the Courts or a Judicial Tribunal[.]

I ask Members to bear this in mind when making their contributions.

The following motion was moved by Deputy Sargent on Tuesday, 20 March 2006:

That Dáil Éireann, in view of the on-going and damning admissions that senior politicians have received payments, which can only have been made to promote certain vested interests at the expense of the common interest of the Irish people, their families and communities:

—condemns those parties that have failed to discipline their members for their collective amnesia with regard to moneys received from developers and their agents at the time of wide-scale rezonings by local authorities;

—deplores the culture of alleged corrupt planning and rezoning that has resulted in urban sprawl, where schools, playgrounds, local jobs and public transport were not provided in tandem with housing;

—regrets the Government's continual and overwhelming support for the interests of private developers over the public interest, which has resulted in its failure to provide a suitable mix of social and affordable homes; and

—condemns the poor transport planning which in combination with questionable rezoning led to a doubling of the average commuting distance between 1991 and 2002, resulting in a significant deterioration in people's quality of life; calls on the all parties to:

—decline funding from developers, as the mere acceptance of such moneys may be constructed as having an undue influence on development decisions;

—put in place measures to ensure that the majority of the increase of value in rezoned land shall accrue to the State and endorse the recommendation of the Kenny report of 1974 that would allow local authorities to purchase land for housing at the existing use value plus 25%; and

—create properly planned communities that are well-designed, that contain a variety of housing types and tenures, with mixed-use developments, and that are well-linked by sustainable transport links.

Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"having established and resourced the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments:

—notes the four interim reports of the Tribunal and awaits the findings of the Tribunal on matters currently under examination in public hearings, as well as any overarching recommendations for legislative amendment;

—notes the comprehensive ethics framework applicable to local government councillors and employees under the Local Government Act 2001, supported by separate Codes of Conduct issued under the Act in 2004;

—notes the importance attached by this Government to probity in public office generally, as reflected in the Standards in Public Office Act 2001, the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2001 and the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004;

—notes the detailed controls in relation to political donations and election spending enacted in the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1998, the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999, and the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001;

—notes the increased transparency of the planning system under the Planning and Development Act 2000;

—commends the Government's commitment to implementing the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) as the strategic national planning framework for achieving more balanced regional development, in the context of Ireland's rapidly changing economic and social circumstances, including population growth which will see the population increasing to around 5 million people by 2020;

—notes that the NSS is having an increasing influence on policies and programmes across a range of Government Departments and agencies, underscored by the Government's decision in July 2005 that the regional dimension of the next National Development Plan, now in preparation, will be broadly based on the NSS;

—notes that at regional level, a key policy bridge between national development priorities and local planning has been put in place with the adoption of Regional Planning Guidelines in each region to provide a strategic framework for local authority development plans and local area plans;

—notes that the priorities of the NSS and regional planning guidelines have been recognised in the Government's 10-year investment plan for transport, Transport 21;

—notes the success of Government policy in expanding the range of housing supports and facilitating record housing output in the face of unprecedented demand;

—notes the requirement upon planning authorities to prepare housing strategies providing for a mixture of house types and sizes to meet the needs of all categories of households, including provision of Part V social and affordable housing, and to zone adequate land to meet these projected housing needs;

—welcomes the record levels of funding being provided for social and affordable programmes, under which, for instance, 23,000 units of social housing will be commenced in 2006-2008;

—endorses the Government's new Housing Policy Framework' Building Sustainable Communities', under which active land management strategies are being put in place to support an expanded programme of social housing delivery in mixed community settings; and

—notes the broad range of measures under which an element of the increased value of zoned and serviced land may be recovered, including, development levies, Part V provision of social and affordable housing or its equivalent value, capital gains tax and the Government's readiness, if necessary, to pursue other options in this regard."

—(Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government).

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