Shane Ross (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, to the House. I am used to bellyaching here about getting the wrong Minister on a subject and not getting the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. However, considering the matter I am addressing is in the heart of or on the borderline of the Minister of State's constituency, it is appropriate he is here. A large number of the people who have come to me on the issue live in the heart of his constituency and some of the 400 acres in question are in it also.

The issue concerns the need for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to outline whether he has received a request from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council regarding a strategic development zone in Cherrywood and the need for him to make a statement on the matter. The residents approached me owing to their alarm that after a discussion at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the council has approached the Minister requesting him to rezone 400 acres, a large portion of land, as a strategic development zone. The people are very alarmed by this because the effect of such an order, which may now be on the Minister's desk, will bar future third party objections. If this is the effect of such an order, it means the democratic planning process lacks popular input, which is important to those affected by this particular plan. I realise the plan may not come to fruition in the next few weeks, months or years. It may well be that commercial development of the sort envisaged will be on the long finger for a very long time. Nevertheless, once the zoning order is made, there is no rowing back and no real democratic process left in which residents can engage.

The Minister of State is aware that the valley in question, the Ballycorus area between Kilternan and the N11, is one of the few rural valleys left in south County Dublin because of the extraordinary outbreak of building of apartments and housing in the area in recent times. On environmental grounds, it would be a very dangerous step to permit this last remaining valley, which has great historical significance, to be developed or, as it appears to some people's minds, destroyed in some bolt for development which is no longer necessary. I suggest the Minister should make a statement on the status of this particular order, whether he has been asked to make it, whether the local county council has sought it and what his intentions are in its regard.

Another matter has also been brought to my attention, namely, that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has already invested in and has ownership of part of the land in question. If that is the case and it has spent between €50 million and €60 million, the question must be asked whether the county council planning authority can be independent in making decisions on the matter in future. If it has a vested interest, we should know what that is. The process should be open and transparent and the Minister, if making an order, should make a judgment on whether the council is an independent body if it has a financial interest in the area.

There is also a question of whether this particular parcel of land is owned by a high profile developer who is already in a fair amount of difficulty because of the property development crisis. Can the Minister of State say whether this is the same developer, what the consequences for such a developer will be and whether this land is likely to be taken over by NAMA or placed in a liquidation pot which is looming in the near future? I ask the Minister of State to enlighten us about this in order that a public discussion may proceed and those residents who are concerned might be reassured that no such order for a strategic development zone is about to be made by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.