Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputies have other people who do that for them. At present, county development plans are put together by the councillors. It is their statutory right and most take it very seriously and put a lot of work into it. The Department recognises that. There are national policy guidelines that also have to be implemented in local development plans. Some councils choose not to follow the national planning guidelines. When that happens, the current role of the Minister in conjunction with our planning officials is to intervene and correct that and issue a direction to try to bring local development back within the national guidelines. While recognising that they have to have their own independence and do all that work on the local objectives, the plans must also comply with national planning policy in the context of telecommunications, energy and so on, things that go beyond just a local context. We try not to do that too often but, sadly, sometimes we must.

Responsibility in this regard currently falls to the Department and it is up to me, as Minister of State, to sign off on whatever is involved. I can do it in my office without consulting the House, hidden away in a non-transparent manner. Under the Bill, the office of the regulator will be given that job independent of politics, of me and of the Department. The office of the regulator will implement national planning policy guidelines and check development plans to ensure they are in order and that there is proper planning. If the regulator sees something that is not right, proper or in line with national planning policy, he or she will issue a notice to the county to change it. If that does not happen, the regulator will ask the Minister of the day - I am sure it will not be me for ever - to issue a direction. That is the process. It is independent in that the suggestion of the direction will come from the independent regulator to the Minister of the day who will then implement it. If the Minister does not implement that direction, he or she will be obliged to respond and clarify to this House why that is the case. It is a very transparent, clear process. Mahon wanted transparency and independence of planning and that is what we are doing with the office of the regulator.

It should satisfy Deputies Danny Healy-Rae and Mattie McGrath that there is accountability and that the Minister of the day cannot blame the regulator and say he or she cannot do anything because the Minister will have the final say after it goes through an independent office, and rightly so. It is a very clear and transparent method of doing planning, which is what the Mahon tribunal wanted us to achieve. I am of the view that the Bill will achieve it.

We have had this discussion a few times in the House during the past two years. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae might not have been here for it but it is not a new discussion. This amendment changes one aspect. In the past, local authorities could take sufficient notice of but not implement national planning policy. It was a grey area and did not lead to the best planning outcomes. That is what we are trying to correct. I apologise that there are amendments before the House that were brought in at a late stage. I acknowledge that. We teased this out at different points over the past two years in the context of both the majority of the work we have been doing and the main principles of the Bill. There are some changes here that were flagged in the Seanad. Members are complaining that they got short notice but they were watching the debate in the Seanad on the day and have had a couple of weeks to digest and analyse and so on. It is not the case that we produced something out of the sky tonight. I ask Deputies to be fair about that. They have had a couple of weeks. I am happy if people want to raise concerns. That is what we are here for. However, it is not the case that I produced the amendments yesterday or this morning. They were well flagged in the Seanad two or three weeks ago. Deputies are very well informed and watch everything that goes on. It would not be in our nature to surprise them with anything. That is not something we do.

See this speech in context