Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What is the planning process? For 18 months, we have been calling for emergency legislation to give effect to procurement so that housing provision can be made to meet requirements. In September, it was announced that we would go down the road of modular homes. Three months later, and after my calling regularly for a programme of events or a planning process under which applications could be made in order to have these homes put in place, we are being told that the Government will advise local authorities of their responsibilities under section 179 of the 2000 Act and the related Part 8 provisions. The Part 8 that I remember from my time on a planning authority - I was a member of Offaly County Council for almost 20 years - required a local authority to go through a consultation process with the public and it was thereafter a reserved function of the council members to discuss and agree the provisions and services pertaining to the laying down of those homes. An environmental impact assessment would conclude the process. Will Dublin City Council and so on now be able to bypass planning procedure, including the practice of affording local residents any consultation or notice as to where the homes will be placed?

Will it not have to produce any environmental impact reports or impact reports concerning waste water, sewerage and traffic infrastructure? Perhaps most worrying from a planning perspective, this directive precludes the council from having to undertake any impact assessment as to whether the units are supported by local services in the community.

To add to the confusion, there is no definition of "temporary." The units, if they are to cost €190,000 each, cannot be too temporary. Does "temporary" mean six months, six years or 16 years? The Minister of State said he plans to provide 500 of the units up to mid-2016. I do not know what process or planning procedures will apply regarding their installation. In the absence of a definition of "temporary," I wonder whether the Government is bypassing Part 8. As Deputy McGrath asked the Tánaiste during the Order of Business, has the Attorney General sanctioned this process under the planning and development regulations? In the absence of a definition of "temporary," the units, if they are to cost €190,000 a pop, could be in place for much longer than six months. They could be in place for 60 years. What planning process has been entertained or entered into in respect of which residents in the vicinity of the proposed units have a say regarding their impact on local services?

It is unbelievable that this whole motion is to be done and dusted in 20 minutes in this House of Parliament. That is the level of respect that the Government, including the Minister, and the Department and members of the Government parties are showing for the rest of the country, including the people who will be affected.

As I said at the outset, I have no issue whatsoever with the provision of the units. I have seen them and I believe they are appropriate and could accommodate people in the short term. They are better than hotels, as the Minister of State said himself. However, had the Government gone through the Part 8 process when it announced its plan, it would be through it by now and the units could be put in place with no issue. However, the Government has failed to do that. We are now told the temporary accommodation units cost €90,000 over and above units that are being sold around the country by Project Arrow. NAMA, through a job lot sale, is selling property worth €7 billion for €1 billion. We are told some 50% of the properties are residential units. They are completed and available and could house people on waiting lists, yet the Government has no interest in them and would rather pay €190,000 each for temporary units. We do not know how temporary they are. I have no recourse even to a response on this pivotal issue from the Minister in the Dáil, where Ministers have a responsibility to inform the rest of us so we can relay the information to those we represent. That is what is absolutely shocking.

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