Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I entirely agree with my colleague, Deputy Joanna Tuffy. She and I have the distinction - if that is the right word to use - of living in the area which has probably been most adversely affected by bad planning decisions in the State. We have what was meant to be a town centre for Lucan-Clondalkin, which is not in the centre but very much off-centre. I am referring to the Liffey Valley shopping centre, which should have been about 1.5 miles south west of there so that it could have served properly the new communities that were developing both in Clondalkin and Lucan. That did not happen, however, because of the abuses that were investigated by the Mahon tribunal.

While it is right for Fianna Fáil, as an opposition party, to try to keep the Government on its toes concerning any issue, including planning, it amazes me that this motion can be brought before us. There are so many practical examples of bad planning. I have mentioned the town centre not being a centre, and it will never be possible for it to be such. We also have a railway station which was supposed to be in the centre of the whole area, which is actually surrounded by the one area of open land that is left in that state. It is yet another example of appalling planning, which came about because of the behaviour of Fianna Fáil councillors who were, sadly, supported by considerable numbers of Fine Gael councillors, though not all.

The report that was issued yesterday is not another Mahon tribunal report. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, for issuing it and I have no doubt that she will act upon it. She has listed a series of recommendations that will commence immediately. Most of those recommendations do not relate to what councillors are involved in; they relate more to inadequacies in the operation of planning departments in various councils. It is right that those should be focused on.

It is important to use these debates to do two things: first, to focus on local government reform and, second, to try to improve the state of politics. Trying to spread dirt on the subject does not help any of us.

Many serious local government issues are not dealt with by this review because it is narrowly focused. We should examine the whole area more widely, however. Developers give development levies to county councils when they construct an estate. They are very important to councils in order to deliver infrastructure. The council in my area has benefitted considerably from such levies but they have a potentially corrupting influence. I have no reason to believe that any council officials or councillors have benefited financially in any way from such a situation but there is a temptation for councils to decide to allow a development to go ahead because of the money it will bring in for them. That is not necessarily a good basis on which to make a decision. The decision should be based on whether a development is appropriate and useful for the area, rather than being influenced in any way by the fact that it will bring in money that will help the council to deliver services, which of course are important.

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