Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I want to commend Deputy Catherine Murphy, as everyone has done - and not only for the sake of doing so but because it is deserved - on the brilliant work she has put into this Bill, which I hope is recognised. I decided to Google the level of interest in this debate and check it out on Twitter and found that it is being ignored. Why is it being ignored? It has been ignored by the media and by everyone for some reason. The hint is in the name of the Bill. Planning is the most important thing we can do because if we fail to plan we plan to fail, and we have failed as a country because of that. I ask why this issue is not being covered, but then again, the media did not cover the launching of many Bills by the Technical Group. People can say that is whinging, but the reality is if they are not covered, how do we ensure there is a debate on these issues and, in particular, on planning? How many reams of newspapers were sold on the basis of the planning scandals? The media will criticise politicians and say we never do anything right, but here we have a politician who wants to become a problem solver and the Government, of which I am very critical on many issues, has admirably supported her. Where is the support from the media? This is a very important issue and the reason it is important is that it damages democracy to constantly drum up the line that politicians are horrible, terrible people who never ever want to do anything right. We hold a candle to them when things are going wrong and we will blow out the candle when they might be doing something right. It is a shame and it is sad. It is sad that I have had to waste two minutes on this point, but it has to be said. Perhaps those in the media might listen because I am raising this, but then again, perhaps they will just ignore it.

This is a massively important issue. If the planning system, as many other Deputies have said, had been dealt with before the so-called Celtic tiger years, we could have been living in one hell of a brilliant country. We would not have a situation in which children are bored with no playground in their estate because we could not ask the developer to put in a playground in case it scared him off.

We will face social problems down the line because this was not done. That is the reason it must be done now.

Planning must be led by people and, if it is not, there will be problems. It must cater for people and it must be about people and how they live. Deputy Joan Collins said that people are presented with an area plan as a fait accompliand are told they will be consulted. A Mayo Deputy, referring to pylons and wind turbines, said the planning process starts after the State has made up its mind. We must bring in people at the start; if not, we will end up with problems.

One excellent element of the Bill is the national compliance register, which will prevent rogue developers from roaming from county to county putting up shabby developments and moving on. Anyone who has been a councillor has come across the issue. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, says this issue is dealt with in law. When I was a member of Roscommon County Council, I was always beaten down by the council executive when I suggested not granting a person planning permission to wreck another area or another piece of agricultural land. I was told that we were constitutionally barred from doing so. People may say I was naive to fall for that but the reality is that, while the executive has access to the might of whatever solicitors it wants to employ, the councillors, who are meant to be the eyes and ears of people, do not get the option of a second opinion. Councillors are much criticised and in many cases it is deserved. Councillor John Murphy was co-opted onto Roscommon County Council in the past few weeks and the council was told it could not do something because the legal team said it could not be done. When Councillor John Murphy asked for a second opinion, he was told that a second opinion would be of the executive's choosing. We need to get around that. We can have all the rules in the world but if we do not have compliance within the council and among council staff, we are on the road to nowhere.

During the boom, An Bord Pleanála became the default planner for Roscommon. A greenhorn like me knew nothing about residential density guidelines until I spent one minute reading up on it. I discovered that a house was getting planning permission in my town although it clearly contravened the rules. I helped people to submit an objection to An Bord Pleanála. The application was stopped. If a greenhorn like me could spot the issue, how come the council could not spot it? The reason is that it was not serious about planning.

Yesterday, the judgment by Mr Justice John Hedigan criticised the planning authority over decisions in Galway. It said the planning authority was doing nothing serious on planning. The person who was eventually hit for building without planning permission was described as having an extraordinary planning history. How does one have an extraordinary planning history unless someone is complying with the person? One cannot have a history unless one does it over and over again. While the people in Tuam have a High Court judgment, people should not have to risk everything they have to get decent planning. No matter what happens with the Bill, until we do something about the fact that we have people in councils with power equivalent to Rumpelstiltskin's ability to turn straw into gold, we need some way to make sure these people are compliant. We know what human nature is.

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