Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was not while I was downstairs. With respect, I have been working on legislation for much longer than the Senator. We all need to be fair to the Minister. As Senator Davitt stated, we are in this House expressing our concerns about the housing crisis on a daily basis. This is but one measure in this legislation to deal with and streamline large-scale housing applications in large urban areas that are under the most pressure, namely, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. That is from where the applications will most likely come.

The Minister listened to the debate and indicated that he is willing to consider many of our concerns about engagement with councillors at an early point in the pre-planning stage so that their concerns, views or submissions can be taken into account by the CEOs and the executives of councils and, in turn, submitted to An Bord Pleanála. That is a reasonable approach for the Minister to take. He is listening to what Senators are saying. However, we should not over-egg the pudding. We should have respect for the system and the process. We must be careful that we do not involve councillors in any way in decision-making relating to a planning application process. After all, Ministers, Deputies or Senators cannot be involved in such processes. We need to tread carefully. We should involve councillors but, as I suggested earlier, the appropriate forum would be in terms of the municipal districts. Where a large planning application is submitted, the councillors the relevant area would be called to a meeting, which would be minuted, where their observations and views could be submitted and then forwarded to An Bord Pleanála. There is a reasonable avenue that the Minister can take on this and he has indicated that he is willing to do so. We should work with him.