Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I remind Deputy Upton that I am from Crumlin, although I am now a proud Tallaght man. Following my re-election in 1999 and as a Dáil Deputy since 2002, I have continued to examine the whole issue of planning. To tell the Acting Chairman one of my little secrets, I would not be a Deputy today if I had not moved to Tallaght with an employer 40 years ago. When I moved there, and in the next years of its development following the implementation of the Myles Wright report, it was often said of Tallaght that it had the population of a city but still the status of a village. Facilities were very slow in coming but, happily, following the opening of The Square in October 1990, many good things happened in Tallaght, as they should. There should have been a parallel development of facilities but, other than churches and schools, it did not really happen for some time.

If one goes out to Tallaght today, however, it is really, to use a Superman phrase, a metropolis. One can go there by Luas and there are great roads, the Tallaght hospital, the civic centre and many other facilities that one would expect in a major town. I am particularly proud of the development of sports facilities, including the Tallaght stadium. Tallaght has come on.

If one walks around my town today, people still have views and concerns, and there are still challenges in regard to planning, just as in many other places. It is very relevant to this Bill that people ask why we need all these apartments. If one goes around The Square in Tallaght, which many Members will know and, I hope, visit on a regular basis, either going to The Square, the hospital, the theatre or otherwise, one will see many unoccupied apartments. I heard Deputy Cuffe making good points about villages today. A village should be a place people are proud of. I am proud of Tallaght village, which I am in every day because my full-time constituency office is based there. However, there are too many unoccupied apartments in Tallaght village and there are still more planning applications, including a current one for a nine-storey building.

What do we want all these apartments for? It raises issues in regard to the operation of the planning laws and it certainly raises issues, as referred to in the Bill, about An Bord Pleanála and how long it takes to do its business. I receive regular correspondence from a community leader in Tallaght who likes to keep a low profile. I will name him as Aidan Thomas and he is a good community activist. He has made many suggestions and I will relate one he mentioned to me recently. I do not mean to pick on my county manager or an other manager but he wonders why, when county managers are being interviewed and appointed, there is no community involvement. I am not sure how that would work out. For example, in Dublin South-West and south County Dublin, one could have a community person on the interview board. The person could be from Clondalkin so how would people react in Tallaght and so on?

I mention this because people talk about such planning issues. People discuss having a voice and a view on where we live and work. As with the Acting Chairman's area, Tallaght is somewhere that people have moved to. I mentioned the connection with Deputy Upton's Crumlin, where I lived. There are many people now living in Tallaght who were originally from Crumlin, Drimnagh and other suburbs. They have a view on how people should work, rest and play.

Decisions are often taken on planning that people cannot see. I am proud of Tallaght and want to stress that point. Like many people in the community I have worries about the number of apartments there and that kind of development. It is important in the context of this legislation that such a point is made.

I have briefly mentioned An Bord Pleanála. I am telling a few of my life secrets now. In 1990 I was nominated by the youth service to be considered as a member of An Bord Pleanála. I do not think I have ever said that to anybody, and I am unsure what my qualifications were. As it happened, the Minister of the day did not appoint me so here I am.

People have issues with An Bord Pleanála and wonder why it takes so long for decisions to be made. I hope the passage of this legislation will give some impetus to the issue and I am glad to see the Minister making proposals in that regard. I hope that will be followed through.

I hope the Acting Chairman does not mind being reminded of our great days together on the council before he went to Fingal and I went to south Dublin. In my constituency and certainly in Tallaght there has been much development, with some still evident in parts of Firhouse and Ballycullen. People have said there is not much joined-up thinking in some of this planning and one wonders who will grasp the nettle and tackle transport and schooling.

I am glad the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has mentioned that Dublin South-West is among a group of constituencies where the need for more school building will be considered. People in Ballycullen and Firhouse say that should have happened a long time ago. I hope that with the debate on the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, such issues will again be considered, and people will get the sense that somebody cares about where they go and live.

We saw on the news what happened during the flooding, although my constituency was unaffected, like many other places. There are issues concerning where we put houses and infrastructure. There are difficulties in how such concerns are expressed. I hope this legislation addresses some of the issues regarding the taking in charge of estates. It is some 20-odd years after many estates in Tallaght were built - I represent Tallaght, Firhouse, Templeogue and Greenhills - and it has taken forever for taking-in-charge processes to be dealt with.

Only this week I made strong representations to South Dublin County Council in respect of concerns expressed to me in Citywest. In that new area people want to know why green spaces are not being taken in charge. We go backwards and forwards on such matters. An estate on the Blessington road, Newhall Court, had its first houses built nearly 20 years ago and the estate has still not been taken in charge.

There are issues and I am glad the Government has given some priority thinking to this planning and development Bill. It has been a while in gestation, although it is important. I have listened to many of the speeches and all of us share concern about the issue. I hope the Minister will grasp this nettle and understand there is cross-party support on the matter. I know people will fight about dotting the i's and so on but it is an important Bill that we should press on with. I am happy to concede to my good friend from Tipperary.

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