Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Murphy has touched on a number of important issues in the whole area of planning. It is the case the Government yesterday approved the draft of the new planning Bill. The proposed Bill will be published and will go into the normal legislative process. There will be pre-legislative scrutiny by the relevant Oireachtas committee. We look forward to seeing the outcome of that over the months ahead.

I will make a broader point. We have a choice to make in the country. Do we want to have a planning system that is Aarhus Convention compliant, is compliant with EU law, and facilitates the development we need to have in the State, which is the building of more homes for our people, investment in renewable energy technology throughout the country, and the delivery of public infrastructure, which the Deputy and others rightly call on the Government to deliver consistently? Do we want instead to have a planning system where it is simply too easy for planning decisions to get tied up in knots and to join a never-ending queue of judicial reviews, which may ultimately over a number of years be determined?

The root-and-branch review that has been led by the Attorney General and a whole team of national experts in this field is, in my view, a very balanced review. It has recommended a series of measures. The Deputy has focused on one particular strand of it. It is important to say that at the centre of this is putting plan-making at the heart of our planning system, bringing increased clarity and streamlining to the legislation, and improving the functioning of the planning system. For example, it involves the introduction of a range of statutory and mandatory timelines across the various consenting processes. An Bord Pleanála, which will be called an coimisiún pleanála, will undergo an organisational restructure. It will be subject to the statutory timelines, which will be introduced on a phased basis. The duration of local plans will also be extended from six years to ten years to have proper medium to long-term planning for how our country develops. We will have proper alignment of strategic planning at national, regional and local level over longer cycles.

Judicial reviews will continue to be taken. We are seeking to ensure timelines are included in respect of the various steps in the judicial review process, including for pleadings, hearings of cases, and delivery of judgments by the court. It also brings clarity as to who can bring a judicial review. In the future, a case can be taken by an individual or by an environmental non-governmental organisation. Groups such as residents' associations will still be to take a judicial review but will do so as a group of named individuals rather than in the name of a group or association. This is to ensure there is proper legal capacity for the taking of a judicial review before the courts in respect of planning decisions. We are also introducing very important cost protections as part of the reforms for those taking judicial reviews. We are underpinning the right to take a judicial review, providing clarity as to who can take it, providing cost protection for those who take it, and ensuring there is certainty in relation to timelines for outcomes to the planning process ultimately.

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