James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. While I welcome the opportunity to speak on planning issues, I regret that this is the only business of the House today. This House should be legislating on important issues, including planning and not simply making statements that have no binding influence.

That said, there is much to be discussed on planning, an issue with which the Government has failed to get to grips in recent years. Its new mantra might be "thou shalt not build", given the shambles in the planning process. We want and expect to see from the Government a proposal to change the system and make a difference. Fine Gael wants to see a different planning system and an end to the back door, unofficial nod and wink planning that has been exposed through many tribunals. We want realistic sustainable development plans.

The rural housing planning guidelines published by the Minister some time ago are welcome in that they provide for people to live in their own communities. They are, however, blinkered and fail to allow for the sustainable development that will enable those communities to thrive. It is heartening to see that after so many years, the Government has come around to the Fine Gael way of thinking and recognises that people should have the right to live in the areas where they were born and raised. Building a house on a family site is often the only way a young person or returning emigrant can put a roof over his or her head. Fine Gael, however, is disappointed that the guidelines do not provide the necessary environmental protection our countryside needs. Special areas of conservation should remain but an exception should be made for family members who reside in the area and provided there are no local objections.

Ribbon development is simply unsustainable and the guidelines are far from unambiguous in their opposition to it. Yet again it seems the Minister has concentrated solely on the volume rather than the design of rural housing. If one-off housing is properly designed it can complement the landscape and revitalise depopulated areas of the countryside. This has happened in some, but not all, counties. I have seen houses built in townlands where there were no houses ten years ago while 100 years ago such a townland had 15 or 16 houses.

In a reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Olivia Mitchell, the Minister stated he would introduce changes to the planning and development regulations 2005. One of the commitments he made in the reply was that he would address the need for a uniform planning application form throughout the country. I have called for such a measure on a number of occasions, including when this matter was debated in the House, but the Minister has done nothing in this regard to date. In the reply to Deputy Olivia Mitchell's question he stated he would also address the fact that a very significant number of applications are turned down by local authorities, as brought to his attention by Deputy Olivia Mitchell, by Members of this House and by councillors.

A large percentage of applications are turned down by county councils because of errors made in filling out application forms. Has the Minister honoured his word regarding these issues? There should not be a delay in bringing about this change. It seems the Minister has not made the necessary changes to the regulations and this House has not been offered any clarification of the situation. There is neither clarity of thought nor intent, which the Government ought to demonstrate in dealing with these issues. There is a lack of clarity in the planning departments of some local authorities.

In 2005, more planning permissions were overturned in Dublin than in any other county, with 14 developments, comprising 2,081 apartments or houses turned down by An Bord Pleanála. This was followed by my own county of Longford with five developments, representing a total of 333 units rejected by the board. County Cork was third when 239 units in four developments were refused.

According to an analysis of the decisions of An Bord Pleanála, appeals against planning permission are more likely to be successful than appeals against refusals. Over the past two years, the board has upheld one third of all appeals against grants of planning permission. An Bord Pleanála needs to be totally overhauled, with regional structures put in place. I called for such measures the last time this matter was discussed in the House and on many other occasions since I came into this House. When I was secretary of the Local Authority Members Association, this subject was raised at regular intervals at our conferences. There is unified opinion among public representatives on this issue.

The current policy is that what suits Dublin suits the rest of the country. This is not the case. The situation in each rural area is unique and should be addressed accordingly by those who live and work in that particular region and are aware of its requirements. What suits a capital city will not suit a rural environment.

A situation has arisen in the midlands — I assume the situation is the same throughout the country — whereby farmers who are trying to comply with the nitrates directive need to provide additional slurry storage facilities, but are being refused the necessary planning permission for such facilities. On top of the Minister's disastrous action in signing the directive into law, does he now intend to drive the final nail into the coffin in his efforts to destroy Irish farming? This is a very serious situation not just in my county but in all counties. Two people came to my office last Saturday who are very annoyed because their planning permission to accommodate the nitrates directive was refused.

Another crucial planning issue is the scourge of unfinished housing estates throughout the country. This vital issue must be dealt with and it is high time the minority of developers who engage in this disgraceful behaviour were called to account for their misdeeds. Local authority members up and down the country are crying out for change and legislation in this area.

Fine Gael has brought forward Private Members' legislation to prevent builders who do not finish housing estates from getting permission to build another. This is a common-sense proposal. The Government's lack of action on this matter is a sign of just how beholden it is to vested interests. The lack of co-operation and co-ordination in Government is reflected in the lack of cross-departmental co-operation on the national spatial strategy; a national integrated poverty strategy or an integrated transport policy. It is a tale of two worlds: one world where the Government has so much money from an economic boom and no accountability worries and the second world where there is stability in the economy with the Government aware of what resources it will get to a greater degree. In the second scenario, any money expended must show a value greater than the alternative uses for that money.

It is clear this Government is not choosing wisely. There is no coherent approach to the major challenges facing Ireland today and there has been almost total failure on the part of this Government to implement any coherent approach to the national spatial strategy. There are no initiatives to ease congestion in Dublin and to rejuvenate depopulated regional towns and other areas. The promise to decentralise 10,000 civil servants has been a distraction to keep desperate communities from demanding a response from Government.

There has been a distinct lack of cohesion in targeting transportation congestion, particularly in Dublin. We all witness this congestion as we come into Dublin each morning. One can spend up to three hours in a traffic jam from Lucan to Leinster House. Each side of the argument, from car to train to truck and bus, has been given little of what it wants but there is no overall vision to reduce the wastage of traffic jams.

Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, development levies were designed to allow for flexibility in the type of infrastructure that can be funded under the development contribution scheme. My party did not oppose this proposal when the Act was passing through the Oireachtas. Fine Gael took responsibility because we saw that Ireland had a First World economy with a Third World infrastructure and something needed to be done. What we did not know was that these levies would not be used to fund infrastructural development but rather to make up for the shortfall in Government funding for infrastructure.