Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues for their contributions to this discussion and support their comments. I welcome the Minister to the House. It is great to have a Minister here for debates on such important policy areas. There are two overall points I wish to emphasise. I support the comments of my colleague Senator Coffey on the need for the Minister to back up his clear good intentions with action across all Departments. I also wish to comment on the detail of the plan, particularly chapters 2 and 7, on which I have some input for the Minister.

On the broad point, there is nobody on this side of the House who does not recognise the superb intent and bona fides of the Minister in his desire to improve the situation with regard to planning. I speak as somebody who spent three years as a member of the city council in one of the most highly developed areas of the city. The reason we have put down this amendment is that we do not believe the weight of the Government is behind the Minister in making this happen. Senators McFadden and Coffey offered clear examples that show this is not the case. We showed the lack of integration and transport infrastructure in the provision of new communities. The building of new estates was also mentioned in the context of the lack of services to ensure they are well policed and handed over in the right state.

There are two further points I wish to make with regard to issues that have not been addressed for many years. The first relates to the Dublin Transport Authority. These guidelines, when they are amended and go through the public consultation process, will make a strong contribution to the current planning provisions. However, there is one organisation, the Dublin Transport Authority, that will make an equal, if not bigger, contribution. If we are to create sustainable communities we must integrate land use and transport. This has not happened and the Fianna Fáil element of the Government prevaricated often on this matter in the past decade when it came to introducing the relevant legislation for this organisation. This is one of the key reasons so many communities in Dublin's hinterland are stranded without the necessary transport infrastructure to ensure their sustainability.

Speakers on the other side of the House have already acknowledged that we cannot believe this Government wants to deliver sustainable strategic planning when so many of the key decisions that have been made on transport infrastructure and the HSE are not harmonised with the national spatial strategy.

Chapter 2 of the document relates to local area plans and two points are missing. Strategic development zones were one of the big innovations introduced by the last Government in terms of delivering integrated development to communities. Three exist but there is no reference in the document to what has been learned from their operation and how they can be better operated in future. This is an omission that should be examined.

We must strengthen the ability of local authorities to bind developers to act in accordance with local area plans. It is clear that developers allow land to become derelict rather than adhere to local or city development plans. We have a golden opportunity to fix this and to address the pro-developer bias that has taken over the planning system in recent years.

On chapter 7, the issue of the quality of rental properties is back in the spotlight and I believe these guidelines offer an opportunity to address this. I ask the Minister why so many unsuitable extensions for rental development are granted in Dublin. Also, can he define and narrow the meaning of co-dwelling in urban environments as this would help stop as many people as possible being fitted into as small a space as possible for profit?