Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This Government regards the Mahon tribunal report as a fundamental point of departure from the inadequate standards of the past and the beginning of a new approach to planning in this country. The Minister is determined to continue to act on the findings and planning recommendations of the Mahon tribunal and to ensure that our planning system is never again deflected from serving the common good by greed and shortsightedness but instead is designed and operated with the best interests of our country and people at its heart.

The Government believes that a properly functioning, effective, responsive, visionary, transparent and publicly accountable planning process is not only a fundamental requirement but a prerequisite for a modern successful economy like Ireland's is today. It is committed to learning from past mistakes as well as building on the strengths of Ireland's planning process in leading the way on its further development. The core function of the new regulator, which is being provided for in the planning and development (No. 2) Bill currently being prepared, will relate to the evaluation and assessment of local plans and regional strategies, including on land zonings, and to the making of recommendations to the Minister on these matters. Where the Minister agrees with the recommendations of the regulator the Minister will issue appropriate directions and instructions to the relevant local authority on the steps that should be taken over the revision of the relevant plan or strategy. Significantly, where the Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the regulator, which he envisages will be a rare occurrence, the Minister will be required to explain the reasons for such disagreement, lay such reasons before the Houses of the Oireachtas and place them on the Department's website, all in the interests of increased transparency.

The Minister and many Oireachtas Members, including me, do not believe in replacing the democratic oversight and accountability of the policy-making process, currently held by the Minister, with an unelected official, namely, the planning regulator. It would be a step too far. This is why the Minister must have the ultimate decision on powers of direction and local development plans adopted by locally elected members. The planning review report of June 2012 was assessed independently. The independent evaluation, published in March 2013, generally supported the Department's recommendations in its 2012 report and included some additional recommendations.

Independent consultants have been appointed on a statutory basis to conduct a review of the application of the planning practices and procedures in six of the seven local authorities included in the planning review prepared in June 2012. The consultants are at an advanced stage of finalising their independent planning review which involves consultation with each of the original complainants and all the planning authorities concerned in preparing their report. The Minister will carefully consider and implement any further recommendations that emerge from the independent review report, which he expects to receive from the consultants by the end of June. The Minister will issue a public statement, including any appropriate actions to be pursued regarding further policy development and guidance while also taking account of the need to develop wider proposals for improving the transparency and openness of the planning system as recommended in the report of the Mahon tribunal. Every citizen will welcome it, given that we all want to move away from the unfortunate historic events and inadequate housing standards that have had such an impact on the country and on the lives of many families.

The Minister is finalising arrangements for the imminent appointment of a senior counsel on a non-statutory basis, nominated by the Attorney General, to prepare a report on planning matters in respect of Donegal County Council. The arrangements involved will be announced shortly.

The Minister is advancing wider reform and other important planning initiatives, such as the planning and development (No. 1) Bill, aimed primarily at addressing the housing supply shortage that is particularly acute in the Dublin area and as a visible commitment on the part of the Government to the Construction 2020 strategy published in May 2014. The main provisions of this are the revision of the Part V arrangements on social and affordable housing, the retrospective application of reduced development contribution charges, the introduction of a vacant site levy, and "use it or lose it" provisions on planning permissions. Another example of this wider reform is the recent publication of the planning policy statement, which provides for a concise and clear statement on the purpose of planning, values and principles we want to underpin planning, and a vision for what the Government wants to deliver. The Minister will initiate an organisationally focused external review of An Bord Pleanála, which must be seen as a significant opportunity for this much respected State body. The Minister intends shortly to publish arrangements for the preparation of a new national planning framework to succeed the national spatial strategy, which will require considerable consultation with other Government Departments, State agencies and NGOs, as well as an appropriate level of public consultation before the submission of the final strategy to the Oireachtas. The newly shaped regional assemblies will prepare regional spatial and economic strategies in tandem with the preparation of the national planning framework. This is particularly necessary in our cities, where we are running out of commercially zoned land and need new areas in which to build businesses.

All these important initiatives demonstrate that the Government and the Minister are engaged across an unprecedented array of legislative, policy development and organisational reforms designed to return our planning system to its roots as a process fundamentally focused on the common good, in which people can be confident and on which people can depend.

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