Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. While Opposition Members welcome the publication of the guidelines and their general thrust, the Minister's bona fides are not questionable and I accept he will put the needs of communities ahead of those of developers. This must be done now and Members must see real action. As the Minister is aware, there has been a litany of bad planning decisions, which have served no one well. I agree with the comments made by the Minister when he spoke of the need for proper planning and sustainable development. Equally, accountability is required on the part of planners and An Bord Pleanála. It is extraordinary that a board inspector can make a decision which can be overturned subsequently by the board with no accountability. This is wrong and must be changed.

In the context of the guidelines, complete integration is required and Senator Coffey is correct. Multidepartmental roles are envisaged, which is a fabulous and wonderful aspiration but Members cannot get answers from a single Department, let alone a conglomeration of Departments. I wish the Minister well in this endeavour and hope he will succeed in achieving this because I am sceptical.

Delivery on this issue is needed. Urban planning has vexed many ordinary citizens, who feel let down by planning decisions. I do not blame councillors in this respect. I blame planners who are accountable to no one. There is accountability in respect of the public representatives on councils but in some cases there is no accountability regarding planning.

For example, I refer to the Minister's Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Micheál Martin. In Cork, he opposes co-location and the building of a new hospital on the Cork University Hospital campus while promoting it at Cabinet level. There should be proper delivery in respect of communities. I disagree with the Minister in that sustainable communities and proper planning are sound-bites, which form a great lexicon and make for great reading. While this makes great sense, Members have not and do not see it happening. Developers have run amok. I refer to the absence of infrastructural development and community facilities. One could cite Dublin 15, Cork South-Central or any part of the country in which some developers have failed to deliver. I refer to some, rather than all, developers. They have not delivered and joined-up thinking is required to integrate services such as public transportation, schools and community facilities. The onus in this regard must be placed on developers.

If the Minister does nothing else in his time in charge of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, he should do as Senator McFadden suggested. There should be estate management and they should be taken in charge. There should be accountability regarding local residents and ordinary citizens who fell powerless in this regard. There should be action in this respect.

With regard to the 10% rule, while I understand the Minister's perspective, he is being restrictive and is preventing towns from developing, which would be the wrong thing to do. People must be encouraged to move into towns and in the context of rural Ireland, regeneration is required and life must be brought back to communities. This can be done by avoiding restrictions on the manner in which they can develop.

As for population projections, while the theory is good, sometimes the practice is wrong. The Minister should not base everything on population theories. The public realm must be enhanced, which means proper houses and not shoe boxes.