Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

Last week the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs came to the House to discuss rural development. It was clear from the debate that the planning code adversely affected development in rural Ireland. I am co-founder of the Irish Rural Dwellers Association and over the last two years it has come to my notice that there is much outside influence in planning. For instance, no allowance is made for a dispersed village, a cluster village or any of the traditional concepts in that they are all based on the English concept. I bring to the notice of the House that in recent days we discovered that there was a body in Britain monitoring and, by extension, influencing planning in this country. When it was asked if it had such a monitoring body for any other country, it stated, "No". It stated it had one for Ireland because of historic ties. It went on to state it did not regard Ireland as a foreign country, which is particularly worrying. If this is correct, it proves what we have believed in the last couple of years, that is, that there is an influence endeavouring to impose on us concepts of planning not traditional to Ireland. I would welcome a debate on the matter in the immediate future.