Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill. I am deeply disappointed that so few Members are in the Chamber to discuss issues pertaining to planning which should be of great interest to us all. The planning discourse in this State is in chaos. I listened with great care to the debate that has taken place thus far on this legislation. There should be broad public support for effective planning and politicians should support effective planning.

I entered politics in 1974 when I was elected to two local authorities, Galway County Council and Galway City Council. The latter rarely used what was called the section 4 process for overturning the opinion of planning officials on the council. On the other hand, because many of the members of Galway County Council were teachers, there was a convention that no vote should be taken on a section 4 proposal until 4.30 p.m. This ensured all the teachers were present for the section 4 vote and then there would be a rash of them.

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