Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry to disappoint the Ceann Comhairle by speaking solely to the Bill. To be fair to Deputy McHugh he is speaking to a matter pertinent to the Bill and some absences from Part 7 of the Bill, which I will come to. He raises an important issue and I am glad the Ceann Comhairle gave him the time to do so, because it is absolutely within the scope of the legislation. I start by saying that in having a debate about reform of the planning system, it is important the debate is evidence based. I am not commenting on anybody who has spoken since last week during the Second Stage debate. As a more general comment, some of the debate in the public arena about our planning system is too often not grounded in fact or reality. Ideas take hold, which can sometimes inform the policy process in a bad way. I say that because I sometimes hear people say our planning system is completely broken. That is just not true. Many aspects of our planning system function, and function well. Every year planning permissions are granted for between 30,000 and 40,000 new homes. There are currently approximately 100,000 new homes with live planning permission, which have not been commenced. Many people have an experience of the planning system that is functioning and working well. That does not mean everything is perfect and that is why we are dealing with the issues in front of us. Parts of our planning system need modest improvement, some parts need significant improvement, but we need to make sure those improvements are based in fact. When I hear Deputies raising legitimate concerns, for example, about the lack of clarity from our local authorities about rural housing I think they are right. However, rather than naming An Taisce as the problem, they might look towards Government and the very long delayed rural planning guidelines, which I believe are actually complete, but are too politically controversial to be released at this point. That is not a comment on the current Minister. I would have said the same thing to his predecessor, and that person's predecessor. Those regulations are long delayed.

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