Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I will be brief because I have already outlined my views and some of the views of Fine Gael on this amendment. We see no logical reason the statutory threshold for local area plans should be increased from 2,000 to 5,000 people. I still have not heard from the Government side or the Minister of State why this measure is being taken and the benefit associated therewith. It is moving responsibility for the making of local area plans and development plans further from ordinary people and further depriving them of the democratic right to contribute to the making of the plans.

Consider the number of towns and villages with populations of less than 2,000, not to mind less than 5,000. There is clearly a move by the Government to establish a hierarchy within the planning process whereby local area plans and county development plans are to be formulated and managed from the top down under guidance. Traditionally, development plans were formulated from the bottom up, albeit with faults. Perhaps we should be focusing on the faults. We should be trying to improve the say of local people in local area plans.

The Minister stated there is nothing stopping local authorities from having a local area plan, but the proposal is removing the mandatory obligation on local authorities to have a plan in place for towns with a population of 2,000 or more. We are genuinely concerned that such towns may be neglected in the hierarchy of development that starts with the national spatial strategy and extends down to the regional strategy and then the local area plans. I am interested in hearing the comments of my colleagues on this.