Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Considering the recommendations arising out of the Mahon tribunal were published four and a half years ago, it is good to see this Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill in the Oireachtas. We in Sinn Féin tried to bring a motion before the House last year, as Deputy Ellis stated, to establish a planning regulator's office but the Government opposed it on the basis that the legislation before the House now was coming on-stream. However, we believe this is a poor implementation of the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal. Our motion called for the appointment of an independent planning regulator because Mahon found rampant planning corruption in Dublin. As a rural Deputy for Sligo, Leitrim, west Cavan and south Donegal, I can attest that corruption did not end when one crossed the Dublin county line.

Rural Ireland is littered with ghost estates while many people cannot get planning permission to build in the field beside their home place. Rural Ireland is littered with the results of bad planning decisions, and these do not just affect those who live beside them, they affect us all. The flooding we have experienced in recent winters is due in no small part to construction on flood plains. These estates were built in areas with no facilities for families and they are not good places to live. Planning matters even more in rural areas.

To show how the planning regulator in this Bill is not the one envisaged by Mahon, I will read into the record the role of the planning regulator as recommended by the Mahon tribunal. Section 1.15 states that the planning regulator's role should be:

[T]o investigate possible systemic problems in the planning system, including those raising corruption risks, with the aim of making recommendations to address those problems. The Regulator should also be responsible for providing training to members of both local and regional authorities on planning and development to enable them to discharge their functions in this area more effectively. The Regulator should have sufficient powers to carry out his or her functions effectively, including the power to question witnesses and compel the production of documents.

That is a far cry from what this Bill is proposing, which is nothing more than an advisory position. The issue of planning permissions and regulations raises the hackles of many people in rural Ireland like almost nothing else. That is because of the disasters we have seen. To avoid more of them, to be more ecologically constructive, to be fair and to be transparent and honest, the planning regulator will need to have the teeth, backbone and powers as described in the Mahon recommendations.

We have not forgotten how, when the then Minister, John Gormley, instigated investigations into seven local authorities with regard to planning decisions, the then Fine Gael Minister, Phil Hogan, stopped them by watering them down into ineffectiveness. I have not heard the present Minister, Deputy Coveney, say he will get to the bottom of the outrageous planning decisions that have arisen around this State, many with a planning history like that. It is even more worrying that, under the terms of the Bill, the Minister seems to be able to overrule the decisions of the so-called regulator. Everyone with an interest in good, honest and transparent planning has agreed that we need a regulator and not an adviser. This feature should be included in the Bill.

Last year Deputy Ferris introduced a rural equality Bill, which I will be reintroducing into this House shortly. I wonder if, were it to be enacted, the national planning framework would stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Where I come from, precious little attention is paid to equality in the provision of services and certainly not in respect of infrastructure. There are many examples and one of the big ones in rural Ireland, particularly in Leitrim, is what is practically a ban on rural planning permissions. This is because of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, rule that if the soil sample fails the test, no effluent can be allowed to flow. In these cases there is no possibility of using any kind of system, which effectively bans rural planning across vast areas of the country, even though there are engineering solutions which have worked in the past and still work perfectly well.

Another issue is the need to deal with the unfinished estates around the country, of which there are many in rural towns with no footpaths, no lights and a developer who has gone bust and disappeared. The local authority is under pressure from people living there but they have a bond which is held by a company in London or Frankfurt. This company avoids its responsibilities while the local authority has to decide whether it will take the risk of doing the work and then calling in the bond. Many local authorities are afraid to take that risk because they do not know if they will get their money back if it goes to court. In these cases maybe 100 people, who had paid dearly for their houses and who had expected the estates to be finished, are left high and dry as a result.

Infrastructure is also very important for rural Ireland, and rural Ireland wants a planning process in which an infrastructure project can be delivered quickly and effectively, especially in the case of fibre optic broadband, which is vital. The role of Irish Water has also come up for discussion in rural Ireland. The local authority used to be in charge of our water services and if a business wanted to come to a rural town, it would want to know if water and sewerage services were available. Now they find the local authority has no control over it and it has passed to Irish Water. Companies who might want to come to Manorhamilton or Ballyshannon will not do so without those services. They will go elsewhere if they have the capacity to provide the sewerage and water services they require.

There are many areas in planning that need to be dealt with, but at the forefront is ensuring housing estates that are only partly finished are finished properly and that, where people want to buy houses in rural areas and have the justification for it, they can do so. I look forward to the regulator who will be put in place by this Bill being able to deal with these issues and to make a constructive difference. For too long these things have been kicked from pillar to post while many people in rural areas have been betrayed by the planning process. Amendments will be necessary to the Bill in order that the regulator has teeth to deal with these issues. I hope it goes through with speed and is implemented in order that people can be proud of it.

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