Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This will be my only contribution tonight. I support the amendment relating to the Aarhus Convention and put forward by Deputy Ó Broin and others. The Aarhus Convention was ratified way back in 2012. Its purpose was to empower the citizen with three major pillars, namely, access to information, public participation and access to justice. In my experience as a councillor and a Member of the Dáil, more than ever we need the participation of ordinary people on the ground who are not serial objectors, crackpots or cranks. They are people who take a particular interest, thanks be to God, in the environment and in standing up to the narrative that has led to this Bill.

I thank the officials for all of their work. A huge amount of work has gone into this Bill over a number of years. I do not agree with it. I think it is in response to a narrative, partly created by the Government and partly created by some in opposition, that the problem with planning law is serial objectors and cranks as opposed to the normal people. That is a narrative that has self-served the Government and those the Government has been in league with, namely, developers. We saw the catastrophe that brought on the country. Earlier today, we heard reference to the number of planning tribunals alone that followed from that narrative where people were afraid to open their mouths and where very courageous people, such as Michael Smith and a man who previously served as a judge on the High Court, took action to speak out and offer a reward for people to come forward. That was all developer-led. It was corruption that was systemic in every level of political life.

Following the crash, we depleted the planning departments completely. I know that from Galway. We depleted them all over and then blamed planning departments and An Bord Pleanála for delays. We do not resource what is there, we do not make it robust and we do not champion the fact we are utterly reliant on ordinary people, whether they are members of organisations such as An Taisce or otherwise, to come forward and highlight issues. We have starved local authorities of resources and funding and we have not engendered the spirit of the Aarhus Convention, which is to empower and enable people to come forward. The Minister has just told us this legislation is compliant. I have seen no evidence it is compliant with the Aarhus Convention, which we ratified as far back as 2012. As has been said already, I have never previously seen such an array of organisations, including environmental groups, architects, planners and the Law Society, highlighting problems. For this legislation, which runs to approximately 840 pages - nearly 1,000 pages - with hundreds of amendments to be rammed through in three hours is an insult to the Dáil. It is contemptuous of the democratic process and it is contemptuous of the people on the ground who have gone to great trouble to raise their objections with us.

This legislation will lead to a lot more cases being taken in the courts. The Minister is restricting and removing the ordinary person’s right-----

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