Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not have one issue with anything the Minister of State has said. I was a county councillor for many years and I have worked an awful lot with Fine Gael councillors, which is the political party to which the Minister of State belongs. I shall not withdraw my amendment. Instead, I shall go away, think about it and come back with the views expressed by members of his party. As I have told him, I have consistently been in dialogue with his officials for over a year who have continually told me that they will bring in guidelines. The last correspondence I received from them stated the guidelines will come in when the national planning framework is adopted. Will it? Is it a fait accompli?I have no difficulty with discussing this primary legislation here and now.

The variations that we have talked have been, in many cases, initiated to facilitate the building of houses. The Minister of State has talked about the Government's policy entitled Rebuilding Ireland. He is not here in isolation but as part of a three-person ministerial team for whom I have respect. The Minister of State has said that it is okay for the chief executive of a local authority to initiate a variation but it is not okay for the members of his political party, or members of any political party or none to initiate a variation.

We have been lectured to and heard a lot of talk about devolving powers to communities and to the elected members of the Minister of State's party and other parties. However, when there is an opportunity to devolve power there is a reluctance to do so. I have no issue with what the Minister of State has said. I would like to read his speaking note but I think what he has said has been really positive. Of course there must be a process, analysis and a public consultation. Local authorities and planners are very familiar with the planning process and the statutory planning and public consultation process. They are all obvious things.

I want an open and transparent process. I want democracy and elected people to be empowered. There are controls in the form of a planning regulator and many of the Mahon recommendations have been adopted. All of that means we now have, hopefully, a cleaner, more open and transparent planning process than we have ever had and I thank all of the politicians who fed into that process. This Bill will go a long way to achieving all of that. What is the Minister of State and the Government afraid of?

In terms of the suggestion that elected members approach councils willy-nilly everyday, there were approximately 14 variations in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Most of them were related to proper development and recognised an economic need. The variations were supported.

I promise the Minister of State that I shall do two things. First, I will home in on five local authorities, including Meath and Dún Laoghaire, and produce a printout within a week of every variation that has taken place in the past ten years. I will give him a list of who proposed the variations, their party affiliations, their reasons for the proposals, where they went to and confirm whether homes have been built on the sites, whether there has been economic activity on the sites or if the sites went dead. I will not do the work all on my own. I shall call on officials who work in some of the local authorities and see how they respond to my request for information. I shall tell them that I want to supply the Minister of State with a list in order that we can talk about this process at the next Stage. I hope that something can be worked out here.

As he will know, the Government cannot talk about empowering local government, devolving powers to local government and empowering local county councillors from all parties yet at the same time come in here and say, "We cannot let these fellas run amok." That is what I believe the Minister of State has said about this matter. I believe we already have an open and transparent system. He has talked about the matter and played a role in providing a good, open and transparent system. My colleagues and I have introduced a Bill that will address many of the anomalies and many of the recommendations made by Mahon. All of that is in order. What has anyone to fear from democratically elected members exercising their power to vary a county development plan through a very controlled and open process?

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I look forward to working with him and I hope to engage with his officials in the next ten days.