Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The next amendment, amendment No. 14 in the names of Senators Victor Boyhan, Gerard P. Craughwell, Grace O'Sullivan, John G. Dolan, and Michael McDowell, deals somewhat with this issue. When the debate started earlier the Minister gave a commitment that, on a case-by-case basis, councillors would be consulted by the local authority executive and their views would be taken on board. Therein lies the difficulty, namely the term "taken on board". From the Minister's amendment, it seems it will be the executive that will write up the report to go to An Bord Pleanála, having taken on board the concerns of the councillors but not necessarily putting anything about them in it. Is this just a box-ticking exercise? If the Minister introduces an amendment on Report Stage or accepts amendment No. 14, will we just be going through the motions of placating councillors? Are we really taking away the democratic process in place already? This is my concern about the whole Bill.

For 25 years, I have heard local authority officials, with the greatest respect to them, agree with everything councillors have said only to then put down something completely different in writing. This is my concern and I would like the Minister to comment on it.