Dáil debates

Wednesday, 16 December 2020

Planning and Development Bill 2020 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

8:35 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. Here we are ad idemin warning the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien - I am being deadly serious about this - about something that the great revolutionary and philosopher, Karl Marx, called "alienation". It is a very real thing. If the Minister wants to know the modern definition of "alienation" in the midst of Covid, it is "If I have to attend another Zoom meeting, I'll scream." We all know that feeling. Zoom is a good technology. Teams is a good technology. It has its uses and it can even expand public consultation but it is not a substitute for real human beings gathering together to discuss their area, their future and the planning of our society. The idea that an emergency measure, which would allow the suspension of public meetings and is necessary during Covid-19, would become a permanent measure and be described as "modernisation" is wrong. It is wrong-headed.

Amendment No. 5 also suggests the inclusion of the word "and". It would be fine if the legislation stated that the local authorities would organise online meetings "and a public meeting". That might genuinely expand participation in county development plans. For local authorities to have the option not to have public meetings is a retrograde step. It sets a precedent, which I would not like to see, and it presents a real danger in my opinion. For all of the good things about Teams, Zoom and virtual meetings and so on, they should not become a substitute for real, physical gatherings of people to discuss things that matter to them, including the future planning of their local areas.

The analogy with Marx is a strong one. As the person who developed the concept of alienation and warned how certain modern industrial practices could lead to ever greater alienation of human beings from one another, the first practical campaign he got involved in was in regard to a decision to enclose forest land that had been open to all the rural people to gather wood. That had been the history. The forests were common and the people of rural Germany could collect firewood for their homes. In the 1840s, there was a move to fence off that land so it was no longer possible for people who did not own those forests to gather the wood. There was a huge campaign against that. The modern equivalent of that is rezoning, which is one of the things that happens in county development plans.

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