Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

One area of policy the public has a right to be concerned about is the area of planning. One need only look to Dublin Castle and the tribunals for the reason. Any punishment for wrongdoing in the past has fallen on the public. I refer to the €20 charge and the time limit restrictions for making objections. I agree with the point made by other speakers that this is the beginning of the end of An Bord Pleanála. The board is being directed to make a decision by virtue of the fact that it is Government policy and this negates the reason for the board's existence.

Planning decisions made at local authority level are transparent in that the file can be examined. This can be of assistance to the public. They may not like a certain decision but they can at least study the rationale behind the decision. The absence of this facility will reduce rather than shore up public confidence. The first thing I look for when I see a decision that I cannot rationalise is the inspector's report. In most cases, there will be no relationship between the report and the decision taken. That has been mentioned before. I have seen it over and over again in Government policy, even with issues such as building heights or densities which would never be allowed in a development plan. Such heights or densities might be allowed, for example, because it is Government policy to increase density. The very least that can be afforded is some transparency in how decisions are arrived at.

See this speech in context