Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the chance to speak on the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016, particularly because the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments dealt with issues of corruption in the planning process. It is disappointing that it is taken so long for Government to implement some of its recommendations.

I strongly agree with Senator Boyhan’s point on public engagement. I ask the Minister to strengthen the provision and not dismiss it and to allow the public to express ownership of their area and have their say. As a councillor, I was a bit shocked when I had to represent people and pay the fee for making representations for local people. We need to bring the Minister around to our viewpoint. This is a modern, progressive and a positive provision which will ensure co-operation between the planners, the public and the proposers of the development. It is not negative. We need to be much more inclusive of the public viewpoint, after all it is their local area.

As argued by my party colleague, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin,in the Dáil, it is disappointing that many aspects of the report’s key recommendations remain unimplemented. It is also important to point out, given the length of time since the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments was established, that the debate on how best to tackle corruption in public life has moved on and Government action on these issues and the issues raised in the report of that tribunal should not be limited to just its own recommendation. In light of this, I am concerned by the absence of several key recommendations from the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments in this legislation.

While the issue of directly electing members of regional authorities has been deferred, does the Government have any proposals for improving the accountability or transparency of this body in planning related matters? That was a key concern of Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, the Mahon tribunal. Why has the Government ruled out using an independent appointments process for appointments to what was the National Transport Authority, NTA, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII? Contrary to claims made previously, the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal on increasing transparency in the planning process has not been fully implemented in this Bill. The Bill does not address key proposals. I would like the Minister to say why this is the case and whether we can address these matters. Measures relating to decisions by councillors in contravention of the advice of officials and declarations of political donations by planning applicants remain unaddressed. These are key recommendations of the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments and this is what shocked the public.When I sat again as a councillor in south Dublin, several Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors were named by the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments as being corrupt. Surely this needs to be addressed urgently? Politicians are negatively viewed by the public and ably assist in this negative view. I urge the Minister of State to reconsider these important issues and to either table his own amendments on Committee Stage or to be open to those from Opposition parties. This is not a criticism of the Minister of State. I am sure he is very good. It is a point about how some of these issues were reported previously. It is not good enough to produce progress reports as was previously the case, stating that recommendations are supported in principle or being progressed to some degree.

The second area is the power to act. The real substance of the Bill is the creation of a planning regulator. While the training and research functions are undoubtedly welcome, it cannot in any way be described as an independent body with the powers of regulation and enforcement as recommended by the Mahon tribunal. It is arguable that, rather than enforcement powers being transferred from the Minister to the independent regulator, we actually end up with the contrary of what the Mahon tribunal recommended, namely, increased powers being given to the Minister. That is against both the letter and the spirit of the tribunal's recommendations.

I need the Minister of State to clarify an aspect of the miscellaneous provisions in the Bill, most notably relating to the national planning framework, NPF. An Oireachtas vote must be called for in the final draft of the national planning framework. Sinn Féin has engaged with the NPF consultation process from the start and made two detailed submissions articulating our concerns about the draft plan. There were huge gaps in the last document, namely, in the north west of the country, and there was much vagueness on the North-South dimension of the plan. There must be a much stronger all-Ireland focus, especially in the context of the impact of Brexit.