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

They discuss plans to rezone lands. They also need to acquaint people with the process, which many people do not understand. There is a huge deficit of participation in these things.

On many occasions l have seen last-minute proposals for rezoning of land, sometimes from members of the Minister's party, where there has been no consultation. The public often alert us to such moves. During a Zoom meeting, funnily enough, a young person who is developing technology warned me about what used to be a small pitch and putt course in my area, in Johnstown. I did not know who owned it. It was owned by a community collective and somebody has fenced it off for the last 12 years. I had not noticed it because it was hidden behind other buildings. That individual in that community suspects the council is going to try to go for adverse possession of that site. I will be watching out to see if there is an attempt to rezone that land in the development plan that is being discussed at the moment.

It is at public meetings that things like that tend to come out, where real human beings meet each other and chat and discuss what is going on in their area. That is how those things come out. This change is not a good thing. I would say yes to holding public meetings and online meetings but no to online meetings becoming a substitute for real public meetings. The amendment from Deputy Mattie McGrath and his colleagues is good in that it argues for a more proactive approach in local authorities, which would actively seek the participation of the community and the public in the development plan. That does not happen enough. There is enough alienation from these things, there is not enough public participation and both of these amendments are absolutely right. I ask the Minister to respond genuinely. He will say that this only relates to this stage or that stage but I do not see how he can suggest the possible elimination of public meetings at any stage in the development of county development plans. That is a retrograde move which I oppose.

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