Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht today discussed the Government's recently published general scheme for a new planning bill that will include provision for the appointment of a planning regulator. However, while it states that this is in response to the Mahon tribunal report's recommendation that such an office be established, it is clearly not as Mahon intended, namely, an independent entity with the power to make binding recommendations. That point has also been raised by An Taisce and the Irish Planning Institute which support our call for an independent regulator.

It is not clear from the Government's scheme whether the Minister could ignore the recommendations of the planning regulator, but the language suggests that this could be the case. That ministerial veto and other restrictions on the power of the proposed regulator reduce it, to a large extent, to window dressing. The regulator will not be answerable to a Dáil committee. This contradicts the assertion of the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, that the office would have to be curtailed in its powers in order to retain the primacy of the democratic process. Surely, having the regulator appear before committee would boost its transparency and accountability. It should also be pointed out that the Government has waited for four years to make any move towards fulfilling its promises with regard to planning. Given the expected lifespan of the Government and the usual gap between such a scheme and actual legislation it must be asked if such legislation would be enacted before an election or will it be kicked further down the road.

The Government also claims that this is part of its much heralded boost to the construction sector in Construction 2020. The number of local authority houses contained in the plan is totally inadequate to meet demand. The failure to fully legislate on the basis of the Mahon tribunal report recommendations will leave us open to a repetition of irregularities that led to the Mahon tribunal itself. Unless there is proper scrutiny and scope for independent reviews of planning procedures, there will always be the opportunity for unscrupulous developers and land owners to seek to manipulate the planning system. The consequences are poorly thought out schemes at the expense of house owners and the community in general.

The Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, does make a valid point in regard to the need not to override democratic procedures. I believe they could be made compatible with an independent regulatory system. Sinn Féin supports the primacy of local development plans. We support the full involvement of local communities in the planning procedure. We must ensure that developments do not go ahead that will ultimately have negative consequences. We have seen this all too often in the past and we have to ensure it does not continue into the future.

The more democratic and transparent the planning system becomes, the less need there will be for a regulator. Such an office would play a vital role in reviewing planning decisions where issues arise. An independent regulator would also play a key role in investigating cases, such as Deputy Stanley has referred to, where there is a clear suspicion of irregularities. To conclude, I ask that all sides support the Sinn Féin motion and revise the proposed restrictions on the planning regulator. That would make it truly independent, as recommended by Mahon and as supported by the vast majority of Members on this side of the House and, indeed, until quite recently by both Fine Gael and Labour.

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