Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As my colleague Deputy Ó Broin has said, this is very important legislation. It requires a great deal of scrutiny and thought. It is disappointing that it is coming through at this time of year and in a rushed manner, as Deputy Ó Broin has outlined, particularly as we are looking at really substantive issues and very complex areas. We want to work with the Minister. This is a matter that we all know needs to be resolved. We need good, strong legislation. It is absolutely vital that we see proper regulation of developments. In the context of pyrite and mica, we have seen what happens when soft-touch regulation is allowed to happen. I urge the Minister to take on board the constructive recommendations we are putting forward and to work with us and other Deputies to come up with legislation of the sort that really is needed.

I want to highlight a planning issue in constituency relating to the demolition of the Sextant Bar in Cork in August 2020. At the time, the developer had lodged a planning permission application for an office block, but this did not include the demolition of the 145-year-old building. This happened overnight and, as far as I am aware, the matter is still under investigation. I must be brutally honest. I am not trying to score points here but when people hear that Fianna Fáil is involved in amending planning legislation, they can get nervous. When people hear that Fianna Fáil is rushing planning legislation through the Dáil that could cover illegal developments, they get really nervous. There is a long history here, and I am sure the Minister does not need a lesson on it from me. We want to work with the Minister so the public will have confidence, and so it will be open and transparent. That is absolutely vital. I hope the Minister will listen to our concerns today.

To add to people’s concerns, the legislation before us revolves around the significant powers available to An Bord Pleanála. The Minister will be aware of the serious concerns and allegations currently surrounding An Bord Pleanála. He has appointed a senior counsel to investigate. I welcome this because it shows that the Minister understands the seriousness of these allegations. Will he confirm that he will publish the report relating to the investigation as soon as he receives it? I ask him to give a commitment in this regard. Solving corruption through secrecy has never worked. We want a transparent and open system. It will also help to restore people's faith in An Bord Pleanála.

I take this opportunity to raise a number of planning issues in the context of vacancy and dereliction. While we are now accounting for the ability of developers to receive retrospective planning, often in cases where environmental or other issues would have prevented development, there appears to be no support for those looking to bring derelict buildings back into use. For example, the Gate Lodge on Model Farm road was sold in 2017 by Cork City Council. People were very angry at the decision but Cork City Council assured people that the new owners would resolve the dereliction at the site. Earlier this year, Councillor Eolan Ryng, Henry Cremin, a former councillor, and I visited the site. Dumping and antisocial behaviour were rampant and having a negative impact on this great community. The dereliction has not been resolved. I contacted the council and hoardings have been erected. There is movement on the site now but it has taken five years. There are huge issues around this and barrier after barrier is put in front of people in this regard. I urge the Minister to consider that one staff member who the Department currently funds and who is employed in the vacant homes unit could likely have assisted with this if the workload had not been so great and if the Minister had funded and resourced full teams to deal with dereliction and vacancy in each local authority area.

In addition to all this, in the past ten days there have been two major fires at two derelict sites in Cork city, namely, at the Sunset Ridge Hotel in Killeens and the old Vita Cortex factory. Both of these fires had a massive impact on Cork City Fire Brigade, on the environment and on the local communities where the sites are located.

It is time to tackle dereliction. It is disappointing that the Minister’s focus seems to be on sorting out problems for developers and new builds and not on the issues of vacancy and dereliction. Existing stock needs to be worked on and included in planning. There are huge benefits to turning these vacant and derelict sites into houses and homes for people

We will be constructive. We will try to find solutions and work together. We recognise that this is very important and complex legislation, which we need to get right. Having this debate during the last week before the summer recess does not do the Bill or ourselves justice.

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