Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

——and in search of the local store, around which we all huddle, selling all amenities. Far from that, it was rural and regional Ireland that built the Dublin cities and Celtic tigers of today. The inhabitants of rural and regional areas wish, as is their right, to develop and evolve in a natural and progressive way such that they will have the amenities they desire in their towns and developing cities and that rural areas will be repopulated, specifically County Leitrim and County Sligo, from where I come. A number of bodies seem to have had difficulty accepting this in recent years.

An Taisce has been subject to considerable criticism. Some 99.9% of this criticism relates to planning and I fully support it. I have called and still call for An Taisce to be de-prescribed as an organisation in the planning process. While I know the Minister has many points to consider, I recommend very strongly that he give every possible consideration to this issue. As Senator Kitt stated, An Taisce does some very good work, but it should not be a prescribed organisation in the context of planning. It could still be involved in initiatives such the awarding of green flags, Irish Business Against Litter or Green Week, and we could still give it State aid to carry out this brilliant and very beneficial work. An Taisce has had its chance in respect of planning and it has fallen short. It is representative of a very small number of people in the country and most of the planning policies it is introducing seem to be highly obstructionist and objectionist and seem to have less to do with worthwhile conservation than with an attempt to block the natural evolution of rural and regional areas.

The way An Taisce objects is very highly organised in that, more often than not, it lodges objections in the last hour of the last applicable day, thereby causing the maximum possible harm to a young couple who have got a site for a house on a farm from their parents. It also lodges objections to much bigger commercial developments in the last hour of the last day. In a recent application for a development worth some €20 million in Sligo town, the developers in question negotiated frequently with An Taisce from beginning to end over a nine month period. They met all the costs involved in lodging their application but in the last hour of the last day an objection was lodged by An Taisce. Sure enough, An Bord Pleanála agreed and the development was scuttled. This is absolutely inconceivable. We are giving dictatorial powers to an organisation whose members are elected by nobody and represent an absolute minority in our society. This must be dealt with once and for all.

I fully accept that we need an independent body to oversee the planning system. However, to say something very unusual, which I am sure will not happen too often in the House, I agree with Senator Bannon's call for an examination of regional planning boards. If An Bord Pleanála was regionalised, it would at least be a little more in touch with the people on the ground. There have been great development plans in recent years, drawn up in the correct way with public consultation. Bodies made their submissions through local representatives and draft development plans and managers' reports were produced. They could not have been more democratic or representative of the people, yet when planning permission is granted by local authorities, it goes before An Bord Pleanála and is sometimes overturned against its inspectors' wishes, which is ridiculous. I would be happy if I got something similar to Senator Bannon's proposal. A review of An Bord Pleanála is needed with a view to regionalisation and reform. There is no reason not to proscribe An Taisce because it would be a positive move.

I would like to deal with the right to object generally. I have no difficulty with people wishing to object to anything provided it directly affects them and they live in the area. It is neither fair nor just that I, Senator MacSharry, could, for example, object to a development in Cork by Senator McCarthy. The people in the area should be allowed to determine what they want in an area. Common sense and pragmatism must become prime components of planning. Planners in all local authorities must be cognisant of the increased costs on developers, whether private individuals trying to build a home or commercial developers. They must be proactive rather than just throwing back application forms. An agent should be informed three weeks in advance that the application permission will not be granted unless (a), (b), (c) and (d) are dealt with, rather than throwing it back at a cost of an extra €100,000 to a commercial concern or €5,000 to a private individual.

I ask the Minister to refer in his reply to the infrastructure Bill which is currently being talked about. It is important to debate this Bill in the context of roads initiatives and infrastructure throughout the country.