Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here today and for initiating this legislation in the Seanad. I am also a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and I want to acknowledge the Minister's wholesome and fulsome letter to the committee and his apology for any sleight that may have been experienced by some members who would doubt for a moment his bona fides in bringing this forward and understanding the emergency of the situation. I put that on the record of the meeting this week in defence of the Minister and the urgency of this legislation. I fully support the legislation. I am getting to grips with the amendments proposed by the Minister and I will address them in a moment. To be honest they look sensible and embracing of the needs that are emerging in the context of Covid-19. I support this measure and we must recognise, in the context of Covid-19, that we cannot hold public meetings and it is ridiculous to run against public health advice. The planning process and the development plan process really need to proceed, despite current restrictions.

I am interested in the suggestion of extending the development plan period as it stands. However, I know in my area and South Dublin County Council, where I was a councillor, there is a need to press on with the amendments and changes so as not to lose a year. In that regard, although it is an eminently sensible suggestion, I would not be in favour of it. That is just in case the Minister is thinking about it.

I am glad that in his speech the Minister references "flexible" measures in looking at extension orders. I have a concern with how public consultation is handled in a pandemic. It is reasonable not to hold public meetings but the absence of public meetings must be dealt with through a stepped up and amplified level of advertising of the fact that public consultations are ongoing. Everybody needs to be in the know. We do not have the normal recourse of being able to go to residents' associations and talk about these matters.

We need to provide finance for advertising that these processes are ongoing and not just on social media. We are still in a transition period between pre-digital and digital contact and connectivity, and we must respect that by looking at different ways of advertising. A planning notice or something small is not enough. This must be a big half-page advertisement in all the local newspapers indicating that a public consultation period is ongoing.

We also need longer public consultation periods. If we limit something to six weeks, local representatives are now obliged to contact residents' organisations and try to organise Zoom meetings while getting out leaflets or initiating contact to ensure everybody is adequately informed and support them in making submissions in that time. We need to extend the consultation period to allow for the fact that the process is not as easy as it was. We have WhatsApp groups and other tools but with the residents' association of which I am a member, many people are older and do not use WhatsApp. They must be called individually and this takes a greater amount of time. We need to consider this and the Minister should take it on board.

The Oireachtas Library and Research Service document we were given to inform us on the legislation quotes the Maastricht recommendations on promoting effective public participation in decision making. It states that online consultations can complement face-to-face public meetings and hearings but should not replace them. It also goes through criteria that should be considered, including scale of activity, potential impact, size of the affected population and the controversial or high profile nature of an activity. It gives a list of considerations. I urge that we have a statutory instrument that sets up criteria for deciding on the length of time and how the public consultation period is to be addressed or advised to the public. We should take that into account.

On a related matter, the process of the development plan was very eloquently described by my colleague. In it we really need to respect much work over much time by the public and their representatives. That goes into arriving at a development plan with which we can all live. The decisions made for the period taken in by the development plan are guided by this work. In that context, and again in alignment with public consultation, it was very disturbing to me the extent to which An Bord Pleanála admitted to the Oireachtas joint committee that it does not really take on board the development plan. We are going to the trouble of changing how consultation is going in legislation and ensuring that the development plan process can go on, yet there are areas like Dublin 8 where the development plan has not been considered and there has been a proliferation of co-living and student accommodation.

I very much welcome the Minister's initiative on co-living this week. I have never been a great proponent of it, although it has a place in a very small niche. In such circumstances we must ensure the development plan really is absolutely adhered to, as we are going to all this trouble, and more than due regard should be given to it. It must be the guiding light in this. I ask the Minister to elevate this element and look at an amendment to the legislation to ensure the development plan must be adhered to and given respect. We should respect all the work done by the public and public representatives.

I welcome the amendments and I will comment more fully on them next time around. I broadly support the Bill.