Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The whole purpose of this Bill is to pull parameters from An Taisce. We look at our local authorities and the development plans in our areas. Those plans are debated and agreed among our county councillors, who are elected in every district to represent their areas. They sort out their development plans for the growth of housing and businesses across our counties. When they go for planning applications, An Taisce puts in objections. Many development projects have been objected to by An Taisce, which is funded by the Government. We are trying to build our rural economies, towns and cities but An Taisce is objecting at every turn.

I will give the House an example from my area. Two families were living in the area and settling down. They made planning applications at a cost of €10,000, including the cost of archaeologists and everything else. They went through the preplanning process with their architects. They went through every part of the planning process before they made an application to ensure they would be okay. When they applied for planning permission, there were objections from An Taisce. The case went to An Bord Pleanála, which upheld the objections. The two families are no longer coming to our community. Each person spent €10,000. They followed the protocol of preplanning meetings, met the planners, went through the whole process and were turned down because of objections from An Taisce. The local authority and the planners passed the application but An Taisce brought an objection. That is not right. The local authorities and planners in our areas are the ones who make the decisions. Everyone has a right to object but the local community, the people who live in the area, had no objection. Nobody in the area had an objection but An Taisce had. Is that right? It is not.

This Bill is intended to protect the people and planning authorities in our areas, going forward. They are trying to develop our areas and allow for growth. How many of the Government's development plans have An Taisce held up for six months, a year or two years? How often has that happened? These were projects that the Government wanted to go ahead. The Government is funding An Taisce while it is objecting to projects the Government wants done.

I said yesterday and I say again today that unless we get this right and unless the Cabinet reflects the country, we will never make any change. At the moment, An Taisce is in a niche of its own and is objecting to everything across the board except where it may be beneficial to whichever members are on different things. We must stop that. We must ensure that the planning laws for our country are reflected. The county councils and planning authorities in our areas, working under our county development plans, want things to happen but An Taisce objects.

Let us consider Dublin. We in this country always talk about capacity. We are short of capacity for sewerage and water. We are now seeking to bring an extra 9 million people through Dublin Airport even tough there is capacity in Shannon and Cork airports. The Dublin Airport Authority is pushing hard to get planning permission to extend the airport to allow 9 million more people to come into Dublin. The people living in the area around the airport do not want it. The people in Dublin do not want it because they cannot get to their own houses at the moment. They cannot get their children to training because of the gridlock. Dublin Airport is being pushed even though we have capacity in the rest of the country. Under any planning law, capacity at any other airport in this country should be fulfilled before there is any extension of any airport. That is common sense. People in Dublin do not want the expansion of the airport but the Government spokespeople go on the airwaves to say it will be great. The proper thing to do is to remove some of the air traffic from Dublin and introduce new flights for destinations other than Dublin. That would mean progression for everyone and would reflect the whole country.

Let us consider sewerage infrastructure across the country and the governance of funding. Askeaton has been promised funding for infrastructure for 40 years. The councillor who was promised the funding retired this year. Oola has been promised sewerage. Abbeyfeale and Dromcollogher have been promised upgrades. The reason I am bringing that to the attention of the Minister of State is that the lack of funding from the Government to improve infrastructure stops all applications for development in areas. It makes us easy pickings for An Taisce, which objects to any rural developments. Those developments could be businesses or housing. If we had businesses and housing, we could then look for transport infrastructure. What An Taisce is doing, with the help of the Government, is discriminating against people who do not have infrastructure because of a lack of funding from the Government. There are businesspeople who want to invest in our areas and are willing to put in the infrastructure that the Government has not delivered for 40 years but An Taisce objects to their plans even though they are putting in the infrastructure and paying for it themselves. Those businesspeople are willing to pay but An Taisce objects. How are we going to get a balanced Ireland with equality of opportunity if we allow An Taisce to get involved in everything? In some areas, An Taisce submits a one-line objection that can cost an applicant €3,000 or €4,000 to get different studies done.

Recently, a farmer wanted to put in an extra shed for his cattle, with a tank for storage to make sure that everything would be correct. An Taisce put in a line stating it wanted a survey done. Two people who applied on either side of this person had already done the same thing, as the same survey had been sought by An Taisce. The farmer in question could not use their surveys, he had to have a site-specific one, even though the two areas were adjoining and the reports were already in the local authority. The farmer had to spend €3,000 and the report delayed the project by six months all because of one line. What we are trying to do is put in parameters so that in certain cases, when local authorities have said what they want in their development plans, An Taisce must step aside. That is what we seek. An Taisce has a role in the various protections that are part of its remit, but when it comes to local authorities and planning, the qualified planners and environmentalists in an area know what they are looking for. Why then do we have An Taisce coming in and creating objections? That is the problem we are trying to correct.

In Foynes at the moment we are looking for designated maritime area plans, DMAPs, to make sure the west coast can produce wind energy, but the Government is stopping it. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is stopping it, even though an investment of half the cost of the provision of the phone pouches could result in a €700 million return for west Limerick and the surrounding areas, which would help Kerry, Clare and Tipperary. All that side of the country would get investment, but the Government is stopping it. It says it will not produce DMAPs because it has already looked at other areas of the country. It is not even a question of requiring the Government's money: they are only looking for an initial start-up fund and then private investors will take on the rest of the cost.

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