Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Somebody has to make that decision at the end of the day and that is what governments are elected to do. They have to make a final decision. The legislation we are discussing in the context of these amendments refers to the draft legislation. I point that out in case people have not had a chance to read what is in the legislation, this relates to what is expected of future national development plan framework discussions. The legislation is not finished yet. The discussion will continue for a few more weeks or months, as we have a few Report Stage amendments to go through. We also have a few more meetings on it. Therefore, the discussion on it could continue for a bit longer. The current national plan was meant to be finished last November or December and it has dragged on a little longer than anyone would have hoped, albeit for the correct reasons. The two are not parallel, rather they are a little separate from the point of discussing legislation for now and for the future.

The legislation proposes that: "The Government shall submit the draft of the revised or new National Planning Framework, together with the Environmental Report and Appropriate Assessment Report for the approval of each House of the Oireachtas before it is published." It also states: "In preparing or revising the National Planning Framework, the Government shall have regard to any resolution or report of, or of any committee of, the Oireachtas that is made, during the period for consideration, as regards the proposed strategy or, as the case may be, the Framework as proposed to be revised.” That is what is in the legislation.

What the Senators are asking for in these amendments is that the final draft would have to be voted on before it becomes a statutory document. I disagree with that proposal. It was never the intention in putting forward the legislation that this is what would happen. A formal vote on the final national development plan was never envisaged under this legislation, rather it was envisaged that all parties would have a formal opportunity to discuss and input into the drafting process. In drafting the current plan, that is what we did. This has been facilitated through a motion approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas referring the draft national development plan, published last November, to the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government for its consideration and to submit a report to the Minister.

The two provisions in the Bill, as recommended by the Mahon tribunal, provide that we would have the involvement of the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is what we are trying to do with this legislation. It is also what we have tried to do in the debate we have had during the past three years on the national planning framework to be launched this week.

Regarding Sinn Féin's proposal that the final vote on the draft of the national planning framework must lie with the Houses of the Oireachtas, this is a planning and consultation document that has been under consideration for the past three years and there is a danger we might never get it finished. That is why governments have to eventually make a decision. It is provided in law that the Government must consider the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is what we are proposing in law.

In the spirit of that legislation, we have during the past year made sure that we have involved everybody as much as we could in the planning framework strategy that has come through. We have done that. That is why we have had debates in this House, we have had discussions on the floor of the Dáil and both Houses passed a motion that the committee would do the detailed work on their behalf and submit a report. That has happened. The committee did that work in October. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and I went to that committee, as well as to other committees, and the rural affairs committee also had a discussion on this. We teased through draft national planning framework documents line by line for hours. The committees made reports which fed into the process. I can assure Senators that during the past few weeks and months all the recommendations from those committees, all the questions that were asked and all that discussion has been part of our finalisation of this legislation. That is what has happened during the past few months.

As referenced by Senator Buttimer, the final consultation with the public was held last September or October. More than 1,000 submissions were received, 150 of them were from Oireachtas Members, councillors, Senators and so on, people involved in local government and people from different parts of the country. All those 1,000 submissions, including the 150 I referenced, have been read and worked on to reflect what we are trying to do here.

Consultation is the cornerstone of what we are trying to do with this new national planning framework. That is what it is about for two reasons. One is the recognition of new politics and that is what we have been trying to do here. We have recognised that it is a good way to involve both Houses of the Oireachtas and the committees. Everybody has had their say and there have been numerous meetings. Anyone who has asked me or the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, for a meeting to discuss this has got it. There has been no shortage of that.

I went to local authorities and begged councillors of all parties to make submissions on this. A year and a half ago I asked councillors to get involved in this process. We had 40 regional events during the past two years. We asked people to get involved in this process because we want their involvement in it. The legislation we are debating, which the Senators want to amend, recognises the importance of having that involvement in future plans. We have recognised that in the plan we are working on and we will try to honour the spirit of the legislation, even though it has not gone through yet. We have achieved that by having discussions here and in the committee.

After the committee report there was a nine-hour debate on this plan in the Dáil during which 45 Members made contributions. I do not know the length of time it was debated in this House after that. However, the consultation we propose should happen in future legislation has happened in this context and I would like to see it happen in the future. However, the Senators' request that the final vote on the draft plan would lie with the Oireachtas would take from a Government doing its job, which is to make decisions on behalf of the country to implement plans.

I would cite the example of the Action Plan for Jobs, which most people said could never work and would not work. The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, brought it forward under the previous Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. It involved many actions, many Departments, a great deal of money and many changes. If that plan had been brought to both Houses for a final vote before it could have been implemented, would we have the jobs recovery we have? We probably would not. We had to implement that plan straightaway and get stuck in. Like the housing plan, it was a five-year plan. Everybody said it could not work but it did work. It disappointed many people that it worked. It helped to facilitate the creation of over 240,000 jobs in this country during recent years. If that had to be approved by way of a final vote by both Houses before the then Government could have acted, I am not sure we would have made any progress on it. I doubt we would have.

With the national planning framework, Ireland 2040, we have involved everybody as much as we could but at the end of day somebody has to make a decision and that is what governments are meant to do. That is the reason I believe the Senators' amendments go a little too far. I understand what they are trying to do. I have discussed this with Minister, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, perhaps a future Minister - I meant to say the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy.