Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion. We need to tackle this issue. If the assertion that was made by RTÉ was correct, that one in eight across Ireland is operating without planning permission, that is a serious issue. Furthermore, if local authorities are buying from authorised quarries where they themselves are the planning authority, that also raises serious issues. I have always believed that when the law is being widely ignored, the law is brought into total disrepute. Sometimes it has to be considered whether the way the law operates is proportionate and reasonable. We have a serious issue at which we need to look. We must ensure that everyone complies with the law. My understanding up until I saw the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was always that if one was not in compliance, the first thing one was told to do by the local authority was to desist from whatever business one was in and then one could seek retention, or in this case, substitute consent. I always had an understanding about what would happen in a case where one did not desist from whatever activity, irrespective of what enforcement was involved. For example, if one was using a private premises for commercial purposes and one did not have permission to do so, one would have to desist. My understanding was that a local authority would seek a court injunction and restrain one by the order of the court from doing what one was doing. To see that people can go on carrying out major works consistently seems to me to be a serious issue. We need to develop a much more comprehensive policy on the extractive industry. We want an extractive industry, we want it to be compliant and we want it to be environmentally sensitive. We also have to look at making it possible for small quarries to operate in isolated areas. Otherwise, we will ruin the roads and cause a huge carbon footprint by bringing vast amounts of material over long distances. We need to move forward, regularise all of this, make it workable and then enforce the law fully.

Another issue at which we must look is the substitute consent mechanism, particularly when somebody wants to use a disused quarry for some other purpose. We need to make it easier to apply for permission to use quarries for legitimate purposes, such as using them for recreational purposes as quarries are good for rock climbing and so on. We need to make that process easier so we can rehabilitate and reuse quarries, which in many cases are eyesores, for productive and legal purposes.

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