Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

It is with reluctance that I feel obliged to begin on a slightly critical note, but I believe the legislation, especially in light of its source, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, is a sham. I do not wish to personalise this but the introduction of a Bill such as this is pathetic emanating from a Deputy who spent all of his time in opposition criticising and highlighting the democratic deficit, lamenting the progressive centralisation of power with Fianna Fáil Ministers and pleading for a meaningful devolved form of local government. It speaks volumes about the ineptitude of the Green Party in Government and its inability to influence any sort of meaningful change in terms of local government, in particular, planning.

The Bill flies in the face of subsidiarity. The word "subsidiarity" came up a lot in recent campaigns on European referenda. It does not mean much to people but it does mean a great deal in terms of its practical application. Subsidiarity is a commendable and worthwhile principle which we should apply to local government. It is about governing at the very lowest level closest to the people. Surely that is what local government should be about. Instead, what the Bill promotes is more of a top-down approach and even further centralisation of power in terms of planning than we have seen to date. As a former member of a local authority, I consider this lamentable.

The Bill essentially amounts to watering down the powers afforded to councillors in regard to planning. Local authority members throughout the State who are members of my party have condemned the legislation, and I am also aware of similar condemnation from councillors who are members of parties on the other side of the House. It has been met with general disdain from public representatives who see it for what it is, namely, a whitewash designed to limit further the already limited powers available to them.

Councillors have only one meaningful reserved function, that is, the creation and application of county and city development plans. That is their main function and this Bill proposes to alter it fundamentally. The requirement for a two thirds majority to pass a development plan or any alteration thereto flies in the face of the principle of subsidiarity. Last year's local elections saw the establishment of Fine Gael-led power-sharing arrangements in the vast majority of local authorities throughout the State.

This leads one to question whether the motivation behind this new two thirds majority requirement is the discomfort of the parties in government that they no longer control local authorities. Are they trying to force a situation whereby Fine Gael councillors who have a direct mandate from the electorate will have to go on bended knee, begging for the imprimatur of Fianna Fáil councillors and other councillors to agree to development plans and variations thereto and other major planning decisions? This represents a serious abuse of the democratic system at local level and an abuse of the role of this House, being an attempt to gain political weight at local government level by parties that were defeated in last year's local elections. The Government, particularly the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, must think twice about its motivation.

This Bill is another example of the continuing extension of ministerial powers. It is extraordinary that while the Government alludes to the need for local government reform that will make it more meaningful and will empower councillors to govern at local level, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government takes it upon himself to create vast new powers allowing him to direct local authorities in one direction or another. It may well be the case that the Minister considers himself the tsar of planning and that it is only his opinion that counts when it comes to good planning. I have news for him, however. He should bear in mind that he is not a member of a local authority; he does not have a mandate at local level to deal with planning matters and he ought to show a certain degree of deference and respect for those who have such a mandate.

Under this legislation, the Minister has bestowed upon himself the power to issue directions in regard to local area plans. It is a bizarre notion that he should issue directions and directives from his office in Dublin on how local area plans should operate in towns and villages throughout the State. That represents a complete diminution of the powers and responsibilities of local councillors to represent their local areas as best they can. What on earth qualifies the Minister to know more about a town in south Kerry or north-west Donegal than those who are elected directly to represent it? This extraordinary premise contradicts everything the Minister, Deputy Gormley, claimed to stand for before the last general election. It is a worrying trend.

The Minister also envisages in this legislation an enhanced role for regional authorities, which are entirely exempt from any requirements in regard to public consultation. Yet again, another layer of bureaucracy is being added that distances local representatives from their rightful functions. Regional authorities, which are not directly elected and have no particular role, will now be in a position to direct the policies of local authorities. I understand the Minister, in other proposed legislation, is planning to scrap the Dublin Regional Authority. However, for the purposes of argument, I will presume it continues to exist. Under this legislation, the Dublin Regional Authority will direct Dublin City Council as to the policies it ought to pursue in regard to the city development plan. This is a ridiculous and extraordinary proposal of the Minister, Deputy Gormley.

Similarly, an enhanced role is envisaged for the national spatial strategy. This was originally a good document which was entirely thrown out in the mad grab for seats and votes before the last general election, when the Government decided, under the direction and stewardship of the then Minister for Finance, Mr. Charlie McCreevy, to pursue a policy of decentralisation. The national spatial strategy was completely ignored when it came down to the brass tacks of securing votes for Fianna Fáil candidates in constituencies throughout the State. Nevertheless, the spatial strategy remains a useful document, albeit one that is now most likely out of date. This strategic policy was not laid before the Oireachtas and does not have a mandate from the national Parliament. To propose that it should supersede the views of directly elected local councillors and the authorities on which they sit flies in the face of any concept of democracy. I take great exception to that proposal. The national spatial strategy should be reviewed and updated. If it is to have a place in this legislation and if it is to function as a steward for local authorities, then it should, at the very least, be debated in this Chamber and receive a mandate from the House.

Another notable element of the legislation is a sense of what can only be described as skewed priorities on the part of the Minister and his officials. The mandatory objectives envisaged under the legislation include the promotion of sustainable settlement and transportation strategies. That is meritorious. However, it is bizarre that the list includes nothing about educational needs, community needs, school requirements and so on. This has been a deficiency of the planning system for far too long. In my constituency, a major development took place some years ago on the grounds of a former convent at Mount St. Anne's in Milltown. This site formerly included a primary school which served the children of families in the area. What was allowed to happen under our wonderful planning system? It allowed for closure of the school, selling off and rezoning of the land and the development of multiple family-sized units on the land but with no school. There is no school for the children of that parish to attend and consequently the parents there are forced to try to get their children into schools in neighbouring parishes that already are oversubscribed and in which there are no places. Incidentally, according to the lists maintained by the Department of Education and Science of areas that are prioritised for school building, the area in question does not feature because it is located in Dublin 6, which is perceived to be wealthy. It therefore does not matter and does not qualify as a priority for the Department's experts, which I consider to be most bizarre.

Another failing of this legislation relates to over-reliance on development levies. Theoretically, development levies are a reasonably good concept and all Members will be familiar with examples in which they have fed into the seriously depleted coffers of local authorities. However, in my experience in Dublin, there has been over-reliance on development levies in recent years. The local government fund has not increased in line with either inflation or with the Government commitments made on its initial introduction. Consequently, it has been depleted proportionately every year and local authorities' reliance on development levies has increased. This has provided a great incentive for local authorities to build intensively and to grant planning permission for any application that comes before them. They are reliant on development levies for day-to-day activities at local authority level. I can understand the conflict that exists because they are completely incentivised to grant planning permission for any application that comes before them. This is damaging to the operation of local authorities. It skews their priorities and the manner in which they apply development plans. Moreover, it skews the manner in which they critically analyse and assess planning applications that come before them. Not only does this legislation do nothing to improve this state of affairs but it refers to supplementary development contributions, which will add a greater incentive to grant inappropriate planning permission. This issue must be considered and reviewed by the Minister, Deputy Gormley. I would be very surprised were he able to genuinely stand over this or if he could in good conscience consider this to be a suitable way to fund local government.

The issue of how local government is to be funded in the future, which is connected but not directly relevant to this Bill, must be examined. The expectation that central government should fund local government cannot continue as it is neither viable nor sustainable. Moreover, Members are aware that the Government does not ring-fence for local government what it should or what it has committed to do and as a result, local authorities nationwide are on the brink of bankruptcy. A meaningful way to fund local government must be found and it will involve the introduction of local taxes. I acknowledge this is not a politically popular thing to do or say. Moreover, I am unsure how many Members of this House would be sufficiently courageous to stand over such a proposal but I genuinely believe it is the only way. It is the only answer to servicing properly those needs that are met by the services provided by local government. It is the only fair and right way to fund the requisite services.

On cleaning up the planning process, earlier, I alluded to the attempt to water down the role of councillors at a local level, planning being the only area in which they really have a role to play. It is important to note that by and large, 99.9% of councillors are good people who put their names on the ballot paper and put their heads above the parapet. They do so to try to serve their communities as best they can. I am not aware of any councillors with whom I ever served who were corrupt or who engaged in any form of corrupt behaviour. Dublin City Council never really had a reputation or much of an involvement in this regard as inappropriate rezoning pertained more to the county than to the city of Dublin. However, the spotlight now is on all public representatives and specifically on councillors in respect of planning, rezoning, corruption and so on. In the present climate, given all the tribunals and so on that have been held, it would be very difficult to abuse that system and anyone who might be so inclined probably would not get away with it. Consequently, most local authorities nationwide have responsible councillors who are doing their best to serve the people.

The apparent suspicion that exists in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in its relationship with such councillors must be reassessed. It is important that this relationship should be restored and improved because were the only solution to planning problems to be an attempt by that Department to take back more and more power for itself and to centralise matters even further, it would lead to a far more corrupt system than existed in the past. If one is serious about accountability and democracy, government must operate at the lowest possible level. One must trust councillors and allow them to run local authorities in the way they should be run. They are the people with the mandate.

If the Minister is serious about cleaning up planning, he should impose penalties on local authorities that breach development plans. This is a different point of view because in my experience, it is the planners and not the councillors who flout regulations and rules and nothing in this Bill attempts to address this point. My experience in my constituency was that councillors had their arms twisted behind their backs to try to force them to rezone a site in Ballsbridge with which some Members may be familiar. I am pleased and proud to state that I was one of those who led the charge against this because I did not believe it was appropriate. I had a mandate from the people and believed it was my duty to honour it. Consequently, the councillors refused to rezone the site and retained its residential zoning. However, although the planners then decided to ignore the development plan, there were no consequences for the planning officials in Dublin City Council who deliberately flouted the city development plan. This legislation should aim at and target the flagrant abuse by local authorities of development plans, planning regulations and guidelines. The Minister is misguided in that this legislation is directed at punishing councillors who have a mandate and who are accountable to the people. Instead, it should be directed at local authorities that try to ignore the democratically-elected councillors and try to ignore the development plans they have put in place.

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