Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What we are doing is ensuring we have a Bill that is fit for purpose in the here and now. The existing legislation is 24 years old. By enhancing the policy, the national planning statements and the national planning framework, we are coherently recalibrating and rebalancing what we need to do in our planning system, which is really important. Everyone should have a right to live and work in their locality. They make individual applications to do so and the adjudications are made by the experts, the planners, not by politicians. There is a bit of a disconnect when I hear Deputy Healy-Rae say we are taking the powers away from local government.

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