Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

Yes, it will just create a bland structure.

The Minister of State should consider how the legislation's provisions will trickle down through the planning system. The regional plan for an area or county will limit the potential for any village in it to exploit its full agricultural, manufacturing or cultural history. While I agree with the Minister of State that we need to strike the right balance, this Bill may go too far. As Senator O'Reilly said earlier, a social engineering model is being implemented which may cause the uniqueness of each county's identity to be lost. Waterford will become the same as Cavan, Galway and Limerick.

I took on the Minister of State's points about poor and excessive development. However, this really only occurred in the large estates in the commuter belt around Dublin. There are many areas in Waterford that have not seen any evidence of development. However, this Bill will limit the potential of such areas to develop in a good and proper way. We cannot put the lid on the aspirations of individuals, communities and villages.

Portlaw, County Waterford, the town in which I live, was a social experiment of a model industrial village built in the 19th century by the Quaker family, the Malcolmsons. The family started first with industry and then built the social structures around it. Up to 5,000 people lived in good quality houses never seen previously in Ireland. The streets were wide and laid out in the shape of hand leading to the town centre and then on to the cotton mill. It was an example of what I consider to be good planning.

The problem with current developments is that they do not have social infrastructure attached to them. The Malcolmsons proved that if one builds houses, they must be followed up with social infrastructure. Unfortunately, these successful models are not being examined. This Bill could be a retrograde step by removing planning autonomy that will prevent villages and towns to grow in their unique way.

Another concern about the democratic deficit in this Bill centres on the numbers required to alter a county development plan. Under this legislation, it will take a two-thirds majority of a local authority to adopt the plan when previously it was just a simple majority. This could be a dangerous exercise in that it gives more power to smaller groups on local authorities while taking from the majority. The simple majority in any institution of democracy always rules. This legislation interferes with that fundamental element of democracy by increasing the requirement to a two-thirds majority. This will only increase the power of the minority on a local authority, allowing it to hold the majority to ransom by insisting on the inclusion of its own suggestions in a county or city development plan.

The Minister of State's intentions are good and I can see why he is trying to get it right. However, this legislation will have far deeper consequences for our society than we realise. While I understand it from a political point of view, I am surprised Fianna Fáil, the largest party in the Government, is accepting this Bill without properly analysing its implications on its local authority members and rural Ireland.

I am not for a scatter-gun approach to rural housing development. Constitutionally, however, people are entitled to live where they choose so long as their development is compliant with planning and environmental rules. There are, however, very few one-off houses empty, with nearly all of them inhabited by happy families. There are many estates in cities and major towns, on the other hand, which are empty.

On Second Stage I pointed out that much of the core strategy with regard to this model of planning and development is based on statistics. It is important they are scrutinised and verified before development plans are designed around them. We know the effect when statistics have not been verified. Before the last general election, a survey was done of the electoral register in Waterford city. Anyone who did not get back to the council about it was struck off, leaving thousands without a vote. The statistics used for planning models need to be 100% correct because they will shape the futures of those towns and villages in which people live.

Portlaw, County Waterford, had its own local area plan until now. When I cautioned that it would lose this under this planning model, the Minister claimed a local area plan was not a statutory requirement but the local authority could have one. Waterford local authority is now resisting the calls for a local area plan for this town, blaming a lack of resources and this legislation. For the first time in generations, Portlaw, a planned industrial town, will not have its own local area plan. It will be subsumed into the county development plan. In the eyes of the local authority and the Department, Portlaw will be no different from the other towns in the county. While the Minister of State gives one side of the arguments about this planning legislation and I give the other, finding a balance between the two must be achieved.