Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I want to raise plenty of other issues.

The Minister indicated that the Department's role is to lay down guidelines and monitor their enforcement. It is not efficient to have 88 planning authorities in a small country, nor is this number conducive to good decision making. While some town councils work well with county councils, there is a degree of overlap. When a development is covered by both a town and county council the issue becomes complicated. The Bill fails to address this matter.

We must strengthen the role of local authorities in providing sites for schools and other important infrastructure. The Department of Education and Science is supposed to find sites for second level schools, while local parishes and vocational educational committees are supposed to find sites for primary schools. Responsibility falls between two stools. The planning authority, in its development plan, marks school sites on its development plan but no one takes the bull by the horns and makes a commitment to deliver the site. This Bill provides an opportunity to clarify where responsibility for securing and making available sites for schools lies. This requires more than colouring in on a map the proposed location of a school site.

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