Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, the best after his incident yesterday. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for coming in and substituting for the question. This is my third time speaking on this issue. I am passionate about it. I served as a county councillor for six years before I had the honour of being elected to this House. I have fundamental concerns about the direction of local democracy, particularly in regard to the issue of the powers of the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR. One of the few remaining powers that local councillors have in city and county areas is their development plan. It is the one thing they can take ownership of. It is great that they have that say at local level in their own local electoral areas, counties and cities. I understand the role of the OPR. There has been correspondence between myself; the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien; and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke; in regard to this issue. I can nearly predict the answer that the Minister of State will read out shortly. I understand the role of the OPR but I believe there is over-reach. When the OPR was initially mapped out, I do not believe it was envisaged that it would to go into each and every local area plan in such minute detail.

I have spoken here before about the role of the OPR in recommending the dezoning of land that is serviceable. I could speak about instances in Fermoy and Bantry in County Cork. Deputies Stanton and O’Connor in east Cork regularly mention an outlet centre in Carrigtwohill, which is the best example of the OPR’s over-reach. I will give the House an idea of what that relates to. On two occasions, Cork County Council took legal action against the Minister in respect of the OPR’s recommendations and on both occasions the council was vindicated. Despite being vindicated on two separate occasions in two separate legal cases, the OPR continues to recommend to the Minister that he put a halt to this potential outlet centre in east Cork. If a court makes a judgment and that judgment is stood over not once but twice, I do not see how the OPR can put the Minister in a difficult position by continuing to recommend that the project be shelved. Thankfully in that situation the Minister, on foot of receiving his own advice, sided with the county council essentially and did not enforce the OPR’s recommendation. That said, how did the OPR get into a situation where not once but twice it went against two legal judgments? It is reprehensible that it would put the Minister in that position.

I understand why the OPR is there. I understand why we must be careful about land zoning in view of the history we have in the State with regard to the Moriarty and Mahon tribunals. For me, the OPR is not the police officer. If there are allegations of impropriety or illegal activity, the Standards in Public Office Commission or some other body that is legislated for should enforce any difficulties with regard to zoning. I do not believe this role was initially envisaged for the OPR. My rant is the same; it is about the OPR over-reaching, particularly in the case of Carrigtwohill when it ill-advised the Minister. I know that the Minister has not always agreed with the OPR. I have asked numerous parliamentary questions about it and obtained the statistics on that. For me, fundamentally it comes back to local democracy in action. If we do not leave these powers with councillors, what are councillors there for?

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien; and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. I wish the Minister of State the very best as well.

I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for his question on the activities of the OPR concerning county and city development plans. It is probable that the Deputy has already heard much of the response I am about to give him. The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, gives the OPR a statutory basis to carry out three main functions. One core function of the OPR is the independent assessment of all local authority and regional assembly statutory plan-making processes. This includes county and city development plans, local area plans, and regional spatial and economic strategies. The OPR provides observations during the drafting of statutory plans. If the OPR finds that a local authority's plans are ultimately not consistent with relevant regional or national policies, it can recommend the use of ministerial powers of direction to bring plans back in line with statutory requirements and best practice. If the Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the OPR, he or she must prepare a statement of reasons for this decision which is then laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Recommendations issued by the OPR relate to clear breaches of the relevant legislative provisions, the national or regional policy framework or Government policy, as set out in ministerial guidelines under section 28 of the Act. As such, the planning authority is required to implement or address recommendations made by the OPR in order to ensure consistency with the relevant policy and legislative provisions. The Minister's powers pursuant to the section 31 process are invoked on receipt of a notice issued by the OPR in accordance with section 31AM(8) of the Act. Since its establishment in April 2019, the OPR has assessed and evaluated 22 city and county development plans to adoption stage. Of the 22 adopted plans, 13 have been the subject of a section 31AM(8) notice letter from the OPR to the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government recommending that the Minister issue a draft direction. All 13 draft directions have been issued by the Minister. The OPR has to date recommended that the Minister issue final direction notice letters on 12 of those, with the outstanding one due to be issued to the Minister by mid-January 2023. To date, final section 31 directions have been issued on seven development plans. The remaining recommendations are under consideration by the Minister.

The planning issues which were the subject of the seven section 31 final directions issued by the Minister on county development plan reviews can be summarised generally as follows: excessive and inappropriate land use zonings for a variety of land uses, often in peripheral locations at a remove from settlements or subject to a number of specific site constraints including flooding, access and servicing; the inclusion of conflicting wind energy policies; prohibitive policies related to the banning or limiting of certain types of development; and flood risk management. There have been four occasions when the Minister has decided not to include all of the recommendations made by the OPR in issuing either a draft or a final direction. The four directions in question are as follows: the section 31 draft direction on the Kerry county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets; the section 31 final direction on the Cork county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on two of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to retail planning policy, to which Deputy O'Sullivan referred; the section 31 final direction on the Westmeath county development plan 2021-27 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets, specifically wind energy; and the section 31 final direction on the Laois county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets, specifically wind energy.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. She has given me much of the same information I have been given on previous occasions when I have raised this matter. I am not trying to undermine the OPR. In the overall argument, I know the OPR has a job to do.

While I cannot speak for all of us, most of us here would have started as county councillors and city councillors. We know how important it is locally to our constituents that we are involved in this process.

The way the OPR has acted at times has been counterproductive to local democracy in action. I note all of the other county development plans that were referenced here but I can speak to Cork. Cork city development plan is still being actively scrutinised by the Minister’s Department pending those recommendations being implemented or not. I know the Minister has said he cannot speak to those, and I understand that. However, of the nine items that are listed in the city council plan, for example, at least three that I am aware of are on serviced land. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has said previously that no serviced sites should be dezoned - he said that on the record - but I can flag three separate occasions in the city plan, which has yet to be adjudicated on, where that has not happened.

As I said, I do not want to sound like a broken record but Carrigtwohill is the one that really sticks with me. I think the OPR's recommendation put the Minister in a very tough spot. The court case was quite clear and it was quite clear that the OPR was defeated, essentially, in what it was proposing yet it still went on to recommend to the Minister that it would implement its recommendation. For me, there should be massive alarm bells ringing at that. I know the Minister of State cannot comment on the live issues but I believe the future of local democracy is on the line and now is the time to question it.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I know the Deputy has raised this issue on several occasions. To conclude, there were four occasions where the Minister had decided not to include all of the recommendations made by the office, and they were in regard to Kerry, Cork, Westmeath and Laois. For each of the four, the Minister has prepared and submitted a statement of reason to both Houses of the Oireachtas as to why he had not agreed with the recommendations of the OPR. As the Deputy said, seven development plans are still undergoing the review process and will remain subject to evaluation and assessment by the OPR.

It is worth remembering that the Office of the Planning Regulator was formally established in April 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments – the Mahon tribunal. The appointment of an independent planning regulator empowered to oversee the planning system in Ireland was one of the key recommendations of the tribunal. Since its establishment, the OPR has been a key part of our national and regional planning infrastructure. It has a valuable role in ensuring that the process and formulation of city and county development plans are consistent with national planning policies. The Office of the Planning Regulator is an independent body tasked with ensuring that local authorities’ plans are consistent with relevant national and regional planning policy objectives.

The Minister is empowered to direct a planning authority to take specified measures in regard to a development plan further to a recommendation of the OPR. In the case where the Minister does not agree with the recommendation of the OPR, he must prepare a statement of reasons and that is what he has done on four occasions when he has not agreed in regard to some of the recommendations from the OPR.

I will certainly pass on the Deputy's concerns to the Minister. As I said, I know he has raised this several times before.