Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to debate this important and long-anticipated legislation. The Bill impacts many areas, from housing to roads and from renewable energy to environmental and architectural conservation. Given this is once-in-a-generation legislation, we need to ensure we get it right so we meet the needs of society, enhance economic prosperity, promote a good quality of life and social cohesion and protect the quality of our environment for the benefit of present and future generations.

The key aim of the review was to put plan-making at the centre of the planning system by bringing increased clarity to the legislation and improving the functioning of the system for practitioners and the general public, while protecting public participation, which is a hallmark of the current planning system.

The latest draft includes confirmation of significant changes to the planning system, including new timelines for decision-making, a significant restructuring of An Bord Pleanála and reform of the judicial review system. The scandal that rocked the board last year badly damaged the public reputation of a public body with a long track record of good public service. Statutory timelines for all stages of the planning process and consequential measures are required as there have been significant delays in recent years. Over 30,000 units are stuck in An Bord Pleanála and a further 30,000 units are subject to court proceedings.

Some of my constituents have also experienced considerable delays at local authority level, with complications arising at planning condition compliance stage, post the granting of planning. Significant progress has been made in the past year to address these issues and we will eagerly watch to see if the board's decision-making backlog starts to reduce from January 2024. A crucial requirement to clear this backlog and meet proposed timelines will be adequate resourcing of the planning system across all sectors at national, regional and local levels. Despite this, half of the additional posts sanctioned for An Bord Pleanála have yet to be filled and local authorities have yet to get any additional planning staff. Key to the Bill’s delivery will be how it commences and progresses to ensure that the transition arrangements do not result in lost opportunities for development.

The Bill will seek to further align planning policies directly with Government directives. This means that national planning policies will supersede regional planning policies, which take precedence over local planning policies. This overhaul to how local authority development plans are created includes a requirement to explain to the Department of housing and its Minister the rationale for deviating from the national planning policy guidance. It is hoped that these development plans will lead to an integrated strategy for planning and sustainable development of the areas, including future policies and objectives. This should help to sustain and grow rural areas in the future.

However, with new restrictions being placed on a person’s eligibility to seek a judicial review of a decision, these changes, which will not be subject to public consultation, will have far-reaching negative implications for access to justice. Too often, communities rightly feel excluded or insufficiently equipped to positively shape planning outcomes. Instead, they are forced into a zero-sum conflict on individual planning applications. These changes will make it difficult for citizens, NGOs and communities to challenge planning decisions which affect the environment. For example, a new provision issues by the Minister to local authorities for areas with significant development potential for housing and other purposes, known as urban development zones, will be introduced in the Bill. A framework to develop these zones has been included in the Bill, which regulates each aspect of new development plans. However these plans are not subject to public consultation. In fact, where individuals are concerned, they will need to show they are directly or indirectly materially affected by a planning decision in order to be considered to have sufficient interest to take a judicial review. There is no definition of “materially affected” in the Bill. It will require definition by the courts.

Last Monday, I met a community group in my constituency, which has serious concerns in relation to a proposed development zone. It seems to me that a range of these proposed changes will restrict the number and types of organisations that can access judicial review. The intention behind these changes appears to be to eliminate challenges from residents and community groups and to eliminate long-standing environmental organisations that do not meet the new criteria. Attempting to restrict people's access to the courts to vindicate their rights is not only legally and ethically wrong; it simply will not work. The legal experts who addressed the housing committee made it clear that the real-world impact of the changes proposed in the Bill will lead to an increase in litigation on planning matters.

The failure to engage in public consultation when drafting this Bill is striking. This comprehensive review of Ireland’s planning law has the potential to radically improve and overhaul our planning and land-use system, as well as related court processes. However, in order to achieve this ambition, the public must be given a proper say on such significant changes. Proper recognition needs to be given to the right of communities to have a say in what happens in their local environment.

Some elements of this Bill are most welcome, while it is clear that other sections are problematic and in need of modest amendments. However, there are significant sections that, if enacted as currently written, will make our planning system much worse, leading to more conflict, more poor planning decisions, more litigation and more delays.

I speak as a representative of a constituency where large numbers of people, including families, are renting privately. Many of them are living in fear of losing their homes because of the lack of protection for renters.

This week we heard from the Residential Tenancies Board about shocking increases in rents despite the fact that most of the country is under rent pressure zones. Demand has been driven by population increases, new household formations, inward migration, holiday lets and the proliferation of high-income industries such as tech. The dearer rent in Louth reflect the trend in the Dublin commuter counties, where rents rose 10.2% year-on-year, reflecting a very low availability. When faced with an acute shortage of rental homes, which shows little sign of abating, this must serve as a wake-up call to the Government to work together to come up with innovative ideas for the provision of more homes. Crucial to addressing this is ensuring a supply of more houses and the building of more homes. Nothing in the Bill indicates that the historical under-resourcing and understaffing of our planning system is being addressed. If we are putting in new statutory obligations and timeframes, we need to invest the necessary resources or we will undermine credibility in the new system and people's belief in its capacity to deliver on the changes.

We are all very conscious that the planning process has a key impact on addressing the two major crises faced by our country today. We need to move to a planning system based on early and meaningful public participation that gives planning authorities, public and private developers, and communities the clarity and certainty they need. We need robust and effective planning laws in order to deliver the urgently needed increased supply of housing and the necessary infrastructure to enable us to develop our renewable energy sources and meet our climate change targets.

I am going to go to my clinic tomorrow morning, and many people who come in to my clinics have problems around planning and housing. I have families coming in to me and they are not allowed to build next to their parents, who are sick. Every time we ring up the planners and ask what the problem is, it makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe the local authorities are right or maybe they are wrong in the way they treat us politicians. If one rings up, the first thing they will say is go and see their agent, and that it is their agent that is looking after it at the moment. The only reason they come to politicians is that they feel as though we can maybe intervene. I know we cannot intervene but they are not going to explain exactly what is wrong.

For example, for years the local needs issue has been a very big problem in County Louth, and it is still a major problem. The situation at the moment is that the only place to build in towns like Dundalk and Drogheda is in the rural areas, and people who come from rural areas want to stay in the rural areas. They do not want to come into the town. They want to continue on with the lifestyle they have had over the past number of years. The system we have at the moment is wrong. Do the local authorities have any accountability? For example, if we go to make a complaint about a decision that has been made, a lot of people cannot afford to go to An Bord Pleanála. If one goes to An Bord Pleanála at the moment with the shortage of staff, it could go on for months. We organise a lot of pre-planning meetings in County Louth. One goes and talks to the planners, and they give an indication that one is going to get planning permission. Next thing, the big shock comes out that one does not.

I must put in a PQ over the next number of weeks to see how many people in County Louth have been refused planning permission in rural parts of the county. I think we will be shocked by the number of people. The communication line is wrong at the moment. We have an opportunity to get it right and I hope the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, get it right.

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