Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----will be taken by the House. I want to speak in the same vein as the Leader of the Opposition, with regard to planning. I note there will be a debate on pyrite today and I look forward to engaging with Senator O'Brien on that issue.

I ask the Deputy Leader to question the Minister on the issue of enforcement of planning regulations.

A trend is developing in local authorities where innocent citizens who have their lives turned upside down by illegal developments have little recourse to get the local authority to use the enforcement legislation to prevent such developments going ahead. In many cases the innocent Joe public is required to seek an injunction or a judicial review - two subjects about which most people know very little. An excuse during the building boom was that there were not sufficient enforcement staff. I invite the Leader to ask the Minister to introduce clear guidelines and protocols to respond to complaints and inquiries from citizens on illegal developments to ensure they are not completed when the only option for the concerned citizens would be to go the courts to have the developments stopped or taken down.