Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I should put it on record that I was not arguing a point about rates; I was arguing with respect to Regulation No. 598/2014, particularly clause 13 of that regulation. There is no solid and proven record in Fingal County Council being a noise regulator and it will have to develop its skill sets in that regard. Article 3(2) of the regulation states:

The competent authorities shall be independent of any organisation which could be affected by noise-related action. That independence may be achieved through a functional separation.

We do not have that functional separation in Fingal County Council. I have the greatest respect for Fingal County Council and for many councils for the work they do. However, a local authority should not be put in this position, as defined in the legislation being put through the House, and making the same person the planning authority and regulator for noise goes back to the worst days of Fianna Fáil. Fingal County Council is the competent person with the development plans, local area plans etc.

I am not happy that the Minister is putting a local authority in such a position. History bears it out that when we go down this rabbit hole, there are problems down the road. I beg the Minister to reconsider this amendment. It is not right to put Fingal County Council in this position. If we are to have a discussion on what would be a better authority other than the CAR, I would welcome such a conversation, but we are not in that position this evening. I will press this amendment and the Minister has gone in the wrong direction completely in this regard.