Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

A door will be closed at the planning counter in a few minutes, but the flap of a tent will open elsewhere in a few days. The public's input into the planning process is about to be severely limited. The kind of fast-tracking of the amendments which we have tonight is symptomatic and similar to the kind of fast-tracking which will come about if this Bill is passed. We have not gone through a quarter of the amendments on Report Stage, and I suspect we will not get through the list of public concerns once the fast-tracking process is in place.

We should be clear that we are centralising power. The Minister is centralising power. This is not the first time this has been done by a Fianna Fáil Government and it will not be the last time. We had the same issue with the strategic planning guidelines. The Minister will argue that planning authorities such as An Bord Pleanála must have regard for the views of the local authority and elected representatives. We had that with the strategic planning guidelines. However, they were ignored when it came to the development plans of Kildare and Meath. At the centre, An Bord Pleanála rode roughshod over the strategic planning guidelines in Meath and Kildare.

The "have regard" phrase was meaningless at the end of the day. We are getting rid of the right of appeal this evening. We are threatening the impartiality of An Bord Pleanála and very dangerously threatening the impartiality that has served the board well over its 30 years of existence, and particularly in recent years.

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