Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The Bill involves a severe diminution of the input by ordinary people — citizens of this State — to the planning process and a diminution of their ability to influence the planning process in a democratic way. The various subsections of section 37A onwards, dealt with in section 3 of the Bill, change An Bord Pleanála from a court of appeal, as it were, to a court of first instance. By any standards, that is a major change in planning legislation in this State. This point needs to be hammered home and highlighted for individuals who are interested in the future development of their communities, neighbourhoods and counties in terms of infrastructural developments.

It is not that I am particularly enamoured of much of the current planning process. However, when a project, especially an important infrastructural project, goes first to a local authority for thorough scrutiny and decision, that very fact brings the decision closer to the communities in the local authority area. While the planning officials make the decision and, indeed, sometimes fly in the face of genuine community interest, nevertheless, when a local authority is making a decision, the community can exercise significant influence through their councillors and also directly on the local authority. The officials of the local authority making the decision are well acquainted with the views of the community and organisations which might be, for example, objecting to or seeking modifications of a major infrastructural project. It is a huge step to remove the first decision on significant projects from the local authority and give it to An Bord Pleanála, which, for ordinary people, is a faceless institution.

Section 37E(4) and (5) provides for a certain input by the local authority, including the elected members, even to the extent of passing a resolution and having that submitted as part of the planning process to An Bord Pleanála. That in no way makes up for the diminution of the input of the community. A resolution by a local authority or remarks made by the elected members in the local council will just be a slip of paper, a few pages at most, in what will be an otherwise massive submission with an enormous amount of detail. In no way will that input by the local authority be of a similar weight to what it otherwise would be if the local authority were the court of first instance for important issues such as this.

We are dealing with major infrastructure — power stations, oil and gas infrastructure, transport terminals, incinerators and other waste disposal facilities. By any standards, these developments will have a major impact on neighbouring communities as well as communities far afield. It is correct that those communities should have a major say in the planning process that applies to them. The Bill removes, weakens and significantly dilutes the influence of local communities with regard to these issues.

The provision for consultation with the infrastructure providers will be read with suspicion by communities and those who have a genuine interest in protecting our environment and in good planning. Those provisions which provide for an infrastructure provider to have discussions with An Bord Pleanála before making an application will be interpreted as allowing for cosy chats behind closed doors between An Bord Pleanála and those who have most to gain from the proposed project. From my reading of the Bill, other groups, such as community groups, environmental groups or good planning groups, could be similarly provided for but undoubtedly those who will in the main have access to An Bord Pleanála for pre-application discussions will be those who seek to develop a major infrastructural project.

Currently, local authorities, even as courts of first instance, can be quite autocratic and bullying in the way they deal with local communities. Last night I debated with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the situation in Pallaskenry-Kildimo where the council is attempting to impose a water supply from a polluted source, the River Deal, on a community which at present has a perfect supply of pure spring water from Bleach Lough. It is an inexplicable decision that is not required for planning reasons. We have not yet discovered the real agenda or the reason for the decision.

This morning I was stunned when it came to light that the contractor employed by Limerick County Council to bring this pipe to Pallaskenry is in flagrant dereliction of the construction industry registered employment agreement pension assurance and sick pay fund. It is not registered in the fund as it is legally obliged to be. The Minister will be aware that it is a requirement of the public tendering process, which this local authority had to go through to award this contract, that every contractor employed by the local authority must be compliant with this agreement. This is a flagrant illegality.

This is the same council that had decent residents on the rack because they were peacefully protesting against the invasion of their community with water they do not want. It brought them before the High Court and required them to obey the law, yet the council is in flagrant breach of the law. I submitted parliamentary questions about this to the Minister's office this morning. I urge the Minister, to whom local authorities are responsible, to conduct an urgent and immediate investigation into how Cro-Bar Construction Limited could be employed by Limerick County Council in flagrant breach of the public tendering process. I look forward to the Minister replying to me on that point and seeking an immediate explanation from Limerick County Council. I am not speaking off the top of my head. This fact was established this morning by those who are at the coalface of the pension scheme in construction.

Diminishing the rights and influence of communities over planning is adding insult to injury. In the greater Dublin area, for example, the corruption scandals in local authorities in the 1980s and 1990s had already diminished the democratic rights of ordinary people by giving them planning decisions that were detrimental to the community. In Dublin west, communities I represent are still suffering from the planning decisions which, as we now know, were made by councillors among whom a significant number were rotten to the core. Communities are stuck with those decisions. It is not a good time, while the tribunals are still sitting, to provide for a further diminution of community input and influence. Cé mhéad ama atá fágtha agam?

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