Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I was flattered by his conciliatory remarks about our sensible concerns regarding the Bill. However, let me reiterate, this Bill is an attack on democracy, it emasculates local authorities, sidelines little people and turns the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races into a permanent pavilion and institutionalises it. The Minister may well argue there is nothing wrong with the tent. He will argue that the big boys and girls need access to power and privilege, but so do the little people. This Bill will look after the big guys but will sideline the communities and the people who need support from the planning process.

Perhaps we need to speed up some of the major infrastructural projects. I agree with the Minister that things should move more quickly in certain circumstances but, curiously, even he tiptoed very carefully around the suggestion that planning is the problem. He merely stated that planning could potentially act as a barrier. What is the problem? Is it that the planning process is not moving quickly enough or is it that the Minister and his pet projects are not moving quickly enough?

The problem is ministerial incompetence, poor management and legal challenges to projects. The Luas lines in Dublin do not join up. That was not about bad planning but about ministerial incompetence and Senator O'Rourke and the Tánaiste doing this sweetheart deal because they felt it would be a bridge too far to join the Luas lines in central Dublin as it would upset the motorists. That is the fault of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. That is why one gets off the Luas in St. Stephen's Green and must walk the best part of a kilometre to get to the red line in the middle of city. That is a lack of coglioni, as the Italians would say. It is a lack of ministerial competence. That is not an issue of planning but is an inability to tackle the difficult issues at the outset.

There is a problem with poor management, the Dublin Port tunnel and the electronic voting project. These projects are not the result of poor planning or a slow planning process. It is a political problem which needs strong management and strong political resolve to address it.

The legal challenges are well known. We know a petrol station and a few other objectors held up the M50. The Minister's answer was that it was all down to a few tree huggers, but it was not. It was down to High Court challenges from landowners. The Minister thus far has done little or nothing to address that. He has made all kinds of grandiose statements about how he will give more powers to the courts. He does not have the competence to address that issue and he has not provided for it in the Bill. Three of the main issues have not been addressed in the legislation.

I wish to be a slight contrarian for one moment. Should all the major projects be flicked through at the stroke of a pen? Perhaps we should take a bit of time to decide on some of these larger projects which will be in place for 100 or 200 years. If these types of projects will be in place for our children and our children's children, let us slow them down a little and make the right decision, not just a quick one. I am not convinced this Bill will do that.

This Bill will take away one level of decision making. It is a bit like removing the Circuit Court or the High Court from the courts structure so that everything must go straight to the Supreme Court. That is not right. The big projects need to be carefully considered. If they were, the M50 would have gone around Carrickmines and the N3 would avoid the royal demesne at Tara. This archaeology has been here for hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of years. It does not make sense to plough projects through without adequate consideration or assessment. Rome was not built in a day, and rightfully so. The good things perhaps need to be thought about carefully.

By all means, let us speed up the right projects. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, is in the House because he would do well to speed up the type of housing projects which have never seen the light of day and the grandiose aspirations of the national development plan which are not met in reality. How about speeding up the Navan rail link, new schools and health facilities? Those are the types of projects we need to speed up.

There is also a more sinister aspect to this Bill. It takes power away from local authorities. We should forget about the Minister's broad assurances that there will be consultation. It will not take place and if it does, it will simply be a token gesture. The Minister said An Bord Pleanála will have to have regard to the views of local authorities. That exact phrase was used in earlier legislation and when a court case was brought in respect of the regional planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area, the courts had to have regard to the regional planning guidelines but could then set them aside — in other words, completely sideline them. This Bill completely sidelines local authorities. It takes power from local government and centralises it with An Bord Pleanála. That has happened time and again under this Government which is centralising power because it is afraid of local democracy. That is a dangerous thing to do.

The legal challenges could be dealt with by establishing a separate division of the High Court but that is not coming through. Communities need to be fully involved in the planning process. The Minister knows from his own backyard in Bray how difficult it is for people to access the planning process. Bray Golf Club sold its lands to a developer who wants to build a shopping centre. This might be a great development but it is in the wrong place because it is located on the flood plain in the middle of Bray. To object to that, Joe Public must pay €20 each for three or four separate applications which amounts to €80. That may be small change for the Minister and me but it is a lot of money for the ordinary objector. The objector must then make three full appeals to An Bord Pleanála, which brings the total to €1,000. That takes planning out of the hands of ordinary people.

The amount of time and money needed for the planning process are making it inaccessible. This Government introduced the fee of €20. I hope the European Commission insists on its removal. The Government should set up community technical aid such as exists in the United Kingdom and on a limited basis in inner city Dublin. Communities need to be given the resources to assess adequately the planning issues coming before them, but the Bill does not provide for that.

Certain issues should be included in, and others removed from, the provisions for exempted development. Deputy Gilmore referred to mobile phone antennae. It is crazy that a dozen antennae can be added to a mobile phone mast without planning permission. Mobile masts such as that outside the Garda station in Shankill make the British Army watchtowers look like rabbit's ears. That should require planning permission and exemptions are unacceptable.

Electricity pylons should go through the planning process. Hundreds if not thousands of trees were felled at Carrickgollogan Woods to facilitate a golf course. On Coillte lands trees are knocked down to make space for re-routed electricity pylons. This went through a planning process but there was no site notice which made it difficult for people to comment.

Every planning authority in the country gives a different answer to the question of whether one needs planning permission to put solar panels on one's house. Let us exempt solar panels on ordinary buildings. The Minister might take that on board.

We need more good planning. The decentralisation programme filleted the national spatial strategy. There is no meaningful planning at national level and future generations will pay the price for that. We need to make the right decisions in a timely way, but this Bill will consolidate power at the centre and reduce the ability of ordinary individuals to have a say in the planning process.

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