Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our planning system is in disarray as a direct result of decades of underfunding, under-resourcing and bad planning legislation, often rushed through by this and previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. A proper, fit-for-purpose planning system needs to deliver good quality, timely decisions with proper public consultation. Here again, the twin spectres constantly haunting the Government raise their heads - recruitment and retention. Local authority planning departments, An Bord Pleanála and the courts have endured decades of under-resourcing at Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil's hands, leaving them chronically understaffed.

In my county of Kildare, a recent report by the Office of the Planning Regulator highlighted the council's ongoing challenges with staff retention and recruitment and their negative impact on the council’s ability to effectively deliver planning services. We are in the throes of the worst housing crisis in living memory yet an estimated 65,000 new residential units were caught up in either planning appeals, judicial reviews or strategic housing development processes as of March of this year.

The courts cannot process planning cases without judges. We need more judges - they have been long promised but have still have not been appointed. Delays of 18 months-plus are the norm. Add in bad planning legislation and chaotic and confusing requirements for strategic housing developments and it is a perfect recipe for disaster. Our planning system has to work and has to be workable in order to end the current repeating cycle of bad planning decisions leading to more litigation leading to more delays.

We can all agree that planning legislation is far from simple. This legislation was promised for the end of 2022. Yet here we are at the end of 2023, and it is patently nowhere near ready despite being pored over and reviewed by councillors, planners, developers and environmental NGOs, to name a few, most of whom were fairly critical of it. At 700 pages, it does not exactly make for light reading.

The Minister said that he wanted to achieve consensus on this. It is time to get down to business. The Government needs to have heeded the words of the stakeholders together in this - the experts, communities, industries, environmentalists and Opposition parties in this House. That is what a consensus means.

Sinn Féin welcomes some elements of the Bill, such as the urban development zones and proposed Government changes. However, there are areas where more serious issues arise, such as, for example, the lack of reform of the compulsory purchase process. To put it simply, our planning system must be fair, effective, efficient, properly staffed and properly resourced. I expect nothing less for County Kildare. We fully support a move towards a plan-led approach to planning and development through proper resourcing. Sinn Féin has campaigned long and hard for a planning system that is fit for purpose to deliver new homes, schools, hospitals and other vital infrastructure in this country. Sinn Féin is more than ready to work with the Government on this.

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