Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I support the proposal to invite the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to attend the House as soon as possible to explain these guidelines fully. The last guidelines proposed were, for the most part, never implemented. In fact, where they were implemented they were far more restrictive than had previously been the case. Until then, there had at least been some discretion with planners but the earlier guidelines amounted to a straitjacket which added further to planning bureaucracy.

Unless the Minister attends this House and indicates clearly that he is giving a direction to county managers or directors of planning services, this proposal will be meaningless. I hope that in this instance the guidelines will mean something and that the Minister is serious about what he is proposing.

Prior to the last guidelines, in County Galway — the area I know best — approximately 18% of planning applications were refused. As of last week, six out of every ten applications were being refused, so something has gone seriously wrong in the interim. It is accredited to nothing more than the guidelines which were issued by the previous Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Therefore, if the current Minister outlines a series of guidelines to us they will be of no use. He has introduced a humanitarian element but can he implement such a proposal? Unless the Minister directs managers and directors of planning services throughout the local authority system to implement the guidelines, it will not be done and, as a result, we will have even more refusals than heretofore.