Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was involved in rural housing issues for 20 years as a councillor, for genuine people who wanted to live in their own locality. In some instances An Taisce got involved and deprived the community of a much-needed house for a family. In one instance, which was not a 100 miles from where I live, where a family with four members who had special needs, some of whom were adults, wanted a bigger house. An Taisce objected and it was taken all the way to An Bord Pleanála and shot down. The family should have been encouraged and granted aid and help. What are the criteria for objecting to one-off rural housing and what are the criteria by which An Taisce frequently objects to various types of planning throughout the country? I have seen a lot of bad planning in villages and towns throughout this country in the form of ghost estates but I never saw An Taisce speaking out and objecting to such developments. Maybe I am wrong on this but I doubt I am.

We need to ensure it is included in this legislation and subject to freedom of information. There are instances in West Cork and Kerry where An Taisce has been used subtly, by a developer or an objector who does not like his neighbour, through an agent whether a solicitor, an accountant or a third party, who gives An Taisce a small subscription and asks it to do his bidding. In some instances I am certain that An Taisce has been naively unaware that it has been used. Recently, when a SuperValu supermarket wanted to relocate within Bantry, properly zoned within all the parameters and outlines set by An Bord Pleanála, An Taisce objected. I have seen doughnut developments around towns that have destroyed town centres where An Taisce has failed to act. It seems to cherrypick. It is being used. How do we get the information on how it has been used and what are the criteria it uses for such objections?

I was pilloried when I said here that An Taisce was like the Ku Klux Klan because nobody seemed to know who its members are. Maybe I went over the top. A former Fine Gael Senator in the Beara Peninsula, who is now deceased, tried to find out who its members were in his area and encourage them to have open meetings, be transparent and discuss planning issues and policies with local councillors but that did not materialise. We, as public representatives, should know about the funding of An Taisce, its statutory foundation, full remit, who and what its members are and its objectives. We should peel away the layers of the notion that it is a beautiful holy body up in the sky protecting our heritage and environment. I would love if that were the case. There are Fine Gael, Labour and Independent councillors throughout the country who have had this difficulty with An Taisce and have been beating their heads off a brick wall.

I came across a family with an elderly member who had a disability whose son and his wife wanted to get planning permission on a site a farmer was providing. The council said it was a difficult situation. The county manager and senior planners said because of the criteria in Cork County Council they would bend the rules slightly to allow for this special need. Somebody, not too far away, who did not like this couple building a house across the road, courted An Taisce, piggybacked on it and despite four years of efforts by the local authority overturned the planning permission because of An Taisce’s powerful influence with An Bord Pleanála. My faith in An Bord Pleanála is also significantly diminished. This is not the first time I have said it. Its transparency and the reason it was set up are far from what they should be.