Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this important Bill. The Minister's intentions are positive regarding the Bill, many aspects of which I welcome because much of my life in politics has been spent arguing against the odds for proper planning and development. On many occasions, except for fellow members of the Labour Party, there has been scant respect for the concept of sustainable planning and development. Planning in Ireland has been highly corrupted. I was elected to the old Dublin County Council in 1991 and was quite astonished by what I encountered there. At one stage, I was threatened with legal action by 42 members, comprising the entire Fianna Fáil membership and approximately three quarters of the Fine Gael membership of the council, because I suggested that what was happening with regard to planning was inappropriate.

I wish to refer first to the events of today and yesterday because what has happened regarding the Dublin Docklands Development Authority has a profound impact for both planning and business in Ireland. It is centrally related to the property bust, to the bursting of the bubble and to the misfortunes arising on foot of the collapse experienced by so many families which have lost employment, who have seen the value of their houses tumble and who are in negative equity. I refer in particular to young couples in their 30s and early 40s who bought at the height of the boom.

The Minister should note that what has emerged in respect of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority is farcical to a degree. A report has been commissioned by someone of the highest competence and integrity, Professor Niamh Brennan, who the Minister has appointed to chair the authority. However, it is absurd that two media outlets each appear to have either full possession of or sight of a full copy of the report. I am aware the Minister has informed the House that he awaits advice from the Attorney General in respect of publication. However, it is a farce for our democracy that media outlets can obtain a report of which Members do not have possession. Moreover, I understand that a Member of the House also may have possession of the report and also may intend to publish it. This further erodes the appearance of competence of public services and of ministerial office in Ireland. While I understand the Minister is required to get advice from the Attorney General, I strongly suggest this advice be speeded up to prevent his ministerial office from being completely eroded and claim jumped by the persistence of media people in acquiring reports and subsequently publishing selected sections therefrom.

Moreover, this report raises a major issue for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government just as it does for the Central Bank, the Financial Regulator and the Department of Finance. This is because banking, development and planning are inextricably linked in Ireland. Moreover, the light touch regulation that brought down our banking system also has been clearly evident in respect of both the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the planning system. I do not know whether the report refers to a light touch regulatory approach taken by the Department as regards the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, DDDA, but my guess is that it must. I am referring to the period of the docklands development, particularly when the bubble started to grow.

When the rainbow coalition left office in 1997, the number of jobs was growing by approximately 1,000 per week and the country was starting to become prosperous. When a country starts to do well, there will be people who want to do much better than anyone else and people who become consumed by greed. This is a given in every country, but it is the job of public bodies, Departments, Ministers and the public service to regulate the situation and ensure that the sustainable long-term interests of their society are not destroyed. It seems to have been the case that the Financial Regulator was in awe of the major figures in Irish banking, including Anglo Irish Bank. Not only this, but the Minister must ask himself whether former Ministers and senior civil servants in his Department were in awe of the people who came to the board of the DDDA from Anglo Irish Bank because they seemed to have the Midas touch where money was concerned. Did the atmosphere in the Department prevent those people's plans from being blocked or a note of caution being voiced about the sustainability of the amount of development to be undertaken in the timeframe concerned?

The idea of developing docklands is reflected around the world. Everywhere one goes there are waterfront developments. Traditionally, we turned our backs on rivers and waterfronts, particularly since the 1940s. The notion of developments facing the sea, rivers or estuaries is a fundamental product of 20th century architecture, involving insulation and the capacity of glass buildings. New types of development were seen on coastlines and rivers from the mid-20th century onwards where such work was impossible in the 19th century.

The Minister must ask himself about why he is unable to publish the docklands report. What does it have to say about his Department's regulatory approach? Did it parallel the light touch regulation by the regulator, the Central Bank and the Department of Finance? We need to explore these matters.

I agree with the Minister concerning information on which he has spoken several times. We have been developing on flood plains and we have been developing excessively. While I was a member of Fingal County Council, I saw cluster developments in rural areas of France. To stop rural north County Dublin being overrun by one-off houses on every field and byroad, I proposed to the council that it examine the French and German pattern of cluster settlements. They would not need to be in villages, in that they could be on family farms. Three or four unit clusters could develop and only one common road entrance would be necessary.

Often, the discourse engaged in by people from rural Ireland who want to live within the environs of, for example, a family farm holding and do not want to live in the next village is problematic. In other countries, this desire is somewhat addressed by cluster developments and rural village developments.

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