Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With the greatest respect to the Rural Independent Group Members, with whom I agree on many issues, particularly their concerns regarding rural Ireland, to introduce a debate in a manner that reduces people involved in An Taisce to cranks, crackpots and serial objectors working against normal people is not acceptable to me as someone who spent 17 years working at local level and knows exactly what goes on with planning matters, and is also unacceptable because it is disingenuous and dangerous and it deflects the debate from where it should be at, which is talking about what it is we want from our planning laws. As Deputy Bríd Smith said, this debate is happening on the same day the debate on the Government's planning Bill will be guillotined and the legislation pushed through. That is totally unacceptable. Acknowledging that every group in the House uses its own time as it chooses, I wish these two hours were being used to debate the Government Bill. What is ahead of us tonight is catastrophic. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is always here when I am speaking in debates. I know his heart is in the right place but, unfortunately, he is now part of a system and a Government that are putting through a planning Bill that absolutely reduces people's participation in the planing process at a time when we need that participation more than ever. We need it more than ever because we are facing a climate catastrophe and a biodiversity catastrophe. We should have learned from the Covid period that we need transformative action in every sense of the word.

I absolutely support the Rural Independent Group Members in their concerns regarding the depopulation of rural areas. We have no planning guidelines. Níl treoracha don Ghaeltacht ann. Táimid fós ag fanacht ar na treoracha sin agus ar na treoracha pleanála do na ceantair thuaithe uile. Bhí cruinniú i Ros Muc aréir. Tháinig dhá dhream, BÁNÚ agus Conradh na Gaeilge, le chéile agus d'eagraigh siad an cruinniú chun deis a thabhairt do chosmhuintir na háite na rudaí a chuireann imní uirthi ó thaobh chúrsaí tithíochta agus bánú na Gaeltachta a chur in iúl. Maidir leis an bhfocal "bánú", tá an leid sa teideal. Ciallaíonn bánú "depopulation". Is é sin an focal. Tá Conradh na Gaeilge ar an talamh le fada an lá ag cur in iúl go bhfuil athrú suntasach ag teastáil agus tá BÁNÚ ann le bliain nó dhó anuas chun an spotsolas a dhíriú ar na fadhbanna ó thaobh chúrsaí tithíochta, cead pleanála, tithe inacmhainne agus sóisialta ina measc. Níl siad ag fáil aon áit i gCois Fharraige.

I go back to this Bill. A thank-you was given for the research. I see no example of research here, I am afraid to say, except the citing of one Supreme Court case. Research would dictate that we would look at all the applications made by An Taisce if we were seriously interested in looking at its record. I am not here in a sense to defend An Taisce.

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