Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The abuse of planning has been a key feature of a long-running and toxic political culture in this State that also gave us the abuses of power that we have seen in the banks, in the health service, in charities and in church and State-run institutions. It is part and parcel of a culture of golden circles and insiders which has so tarnished the political system here and so badly served our citizens. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which between them have wielded power in this State for the past 90 years, created, maintained and are completely mired in this corrupt political culture. In my view, it is a consequence of the counter-revolutionary period which followed the 1916 Rising. This is the same political culture which ultimately resulted in the total collapse of the economy seven years ago.

The physical and social impact of corrupt planning decisions is evident to this day, especially in parts of Dublin. Working class communities were scattered to far-flung and vast housing estates on the outskirts of Dublin and other cities, estates bereft of adequate infrastructure or amenities. It is to the credit of the people living in these areas that they have come through what can only be described as an exercise in corrupt and mindless social engineering.

Is tríd a bheith eagraithe le chéile agus a gcearta a bheith á éileamh acu a tháinig na pobail seo slán. With the help of some political activists and a few courageous journalists, they exposed the rotten heart of planning corruption in this State. The legacy, however, remains as a dreadful scar on this city and county. The lengthy Mahon tribunal unveiled the reality of a decade of planning corruption. The extent and scale of corruption which was exposed was immense. The Mahon tribunal report was clear. Endemic corruption was rife across the political spectrum.

Fine Gael and Labour cannot portray planning corruption as solely a Fianna Fáil problem. Indeed, Fine Gael councillors and Deputies were central to planning corruption in Dublin. Mahon highlighted an unhealthy relationship between Fine Gael Ministers and individuals involved in property development.

The Mahon tribunal looked at matters relating to planning permission and land rezoning issues in the 1990s in the Dublin County Council area. Nobody seriously suggests, however, that planning corruption was an issue confined to Dublin. In 2012, Mahon made ten recommendations relating to planning. However, 18 years after the Mahon tribunal commenced, three years after it made its final report and four years after Fine Gael and Labour assumed office, the Government has still not implemented the tribunal’s recommendations. Constantly pointing to Fianna Fáil on planning corruption, as this Government does, has no credibility when the Government itself does nothing to root it out.

Instead, the former Fine Gael Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, infamously frustrated proper scrutiny of the planning process. In one of his first acts as Minister, Phil Hogan, since promoted by the Taoiseach to the prestigious position of European Commissioner, shut down an inquiry initiated by his ministerial predecessor John Gormley. This was an inquiry into alleged planning irregularities in several local authority areas, namely Dublin city, Cork city and counties Cork, Carlow, Meath, Galway and Donegal. Phil Hogan has never given a satisfactory explanation for doing this. There remain serious and unanswered questions around this decision. He actually said at one point that the allegations were spurious. How does he know they were spurious when they have not been investigated?

This action highlights the arrogance of this Government and its indifference to pursuing any genuine reform of the planning system. There is a deep suspicion that Phil Hogan was motivated by a desire not to rock the boat in local government because, at the time, Fine Gael and the Labour Party controlled many councils across the State, including some in which these irregularities allegedly occurred. His actions ran entirely contrary to the findings and recommendations of Mahon. Does anyone believe, after four years of not implementing Mahon’s recommendations, that this is the action of a Government serious about political reform?

An internal review by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which was presented as an alternative to the Gormley review, claimed there was no evidence of wrongdoing in planning. However, Gerard Convie, a senior planner in Donegal County Council, provided evidence of planning irregularities and he went to the High Court. The court quashed the review's section on Donegal. The Department was forced to apologise to Gerard Convie. The internal review was discredited and had to be set aside.

Did the Government go back to the Mahon tribunal recommendations? No. Instead, it set up another review into six local authorities, this time to be carried out by a group of consultants. We have yet to see what that will come up with. Meanwhile, Gerard Convie has presented substantial grounds for a full independent inquiry to establish whether there were any improprieties that would be subject to legal investigation. Sinn Féin has previously called on the Government to establish such an inquiry. I repeat that call here this evening.

Phil Hogan was also made aware of very serious allegations regarding planning irregularities in County Wicklow. The current Minister is aware of these allegations but nothing has been done to act on them to date. The allegations include one in which the value of a property ear-marked for development was vastly increased in value through rezoning and compulsory purchase orders were used to facilitate the development. It is also claimed well-known property developers, Seán Dunne and Sean Mulryan, two of the richest men in this State prior to the financial, property and banking collapse, were to be the chief beneficiaries of all of this. This was at a time when both of these men were struggling with massive debts accumulated through their gambling with Anglo Irish Bank and other financial institutions. There was also an allegation that on 2 September 2014, a file relating to allegations of corruption in planning in Wicklow, which was handed into the offices of the Minister's predecessor by a former member of Wicklow County Council, was removed from the Minister's office. The seriousness of this last allegation surely underlines the need for a full inquiry into all matters related to the alleged Wicklow irregularities.

Central to the Mahon tribunal recommendations was the establishment of an independent planning regulator. When the report was published in March 2012, the then Minister for State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, promised the Government would make such an appointment. It still has not happened. Three years later, Fine Gael and Labour are still sitting on their hands. The Government has published an outline for proposals on planning which does not provide for an office of a regulator, independent of the Minister. The Government's proposed scheme falls far short of what is required and what was recommended in the Mahon tribunal report. Why? The Government's outline would make any such office subservient to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. I would like to think that we want to decouple politicians from responsibilities for these matters. This completely contradicts the Mahon tribunal's recommendation for a regulator with powers separate from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

If the Government genuinely seeks to break with the corrupt political legacy of the past it must move to reform the planning process. The Government's amendment shows it has no intention of doing this. The Government’s proposal, as it stands, is highly unlikely to be presented as legislation before its term ends. Sinn Féin proposes real reform of the planning process with responsible, ethical and sustainable planning, underpinned by equality. This is the right of all who live in this State. An independent planning regulator would operate in the same manner as the Office of the Ombudsman. A stand-alone Bill to establish such an office could be published before the summer recess. larraim ar achan Teachta tacú le tairiscint Shinn Féin anocht.

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