Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. As one of my Government colleagues said, I am never out the Chamber these days but it is good to be here to welcome the amendment that the Minister is putting forward on behalf of the Green Party and through the Government. That shows how the Government is working together on these issues and I am delighted to see that the Minister is amenable to that.

For clarity and for those who are not aware of the background to this, the 2000 Act had a provision that the planning authority shall hold public meetings and it was thanks to Deputy Matthews, as the Minister said, who is the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He had a concern when looking at the draft Bill because it says: "shall consult with members of the public in such manner (which may include the holding of a public meeting)". It is the wording of "may include the holding of a public meeting" that caused concern. I have not seen the wording the Government is proposing and I look forward to seeing that and engaging on it on Monday, but as I understand it, the wording will be to the effect that the planning authority shall hold a public meeting, whether that is online or a physical public meeting. That provision is hugely important to all of us and I am sure it was inadvertent and accidental in the draft Bill.

Many of us, as has been stated, have come from the background of local government and our engagement with people on the ground is a form of public participation. If we lose that from planning, it basically means there is a top-down heavy Government approach to how planning is operated. That sense of public participation, grassroots ownership and involvement within our local communities is hugely important to us in the Green Party, and I know our councillors would have found this particular provision difficult, as the councillors within Fianna Fáil would, because I know they are dedicated to that public service as well.

An interesting and important point was raised by Senator Seery Kearney. When we are looking at public participation and the types of engagement involved, the most helpful kind of public participation is to look at local development plans, city and county development plans, and local area plans, interrogate those plans, either as councillors, other elected representatives or interested members of a political party, and see where planning does not align with a city or county development plan or with a local area plan. There is a valid concern around a lack of local area plans, and I would have such concerns in my constituency. We need to ensure we are addressing that as a Government and I ask the Minister to look at that. We have few local area plans and we need to interrogate how we are carrying out public participation and how local councillors are able to engage with the kind of planning that is going on. They are the people who are best placed to know, not people up in Dublin. It is the people on the ground who are best placed to know what will work within their constituency.

I welcome that the Minister is bringing forward other amendments. I would like more clarity around those and around the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. If it is not being held in public, what kind of transparency is being proposed? I understand there is a sunset clause for that. If it is only until April, it is essential that we make sure tenants can bring forward issues to the RTB. I welcome this move overall. I do not fundamentally agree with the Labour Party's perspective on a sunset clause for these online or in-person meetings because it is important that we have some kind of continuity and we do not know when we will potentially be coming into and going out of the kinds of lockdowns that will not facilitate a large public meeting. Therefore, we have to plan for that and we cannot stop building and planning or stop the interrogation of the environmental aspects of planning. It is crucial from that perspective.

Overall, I welcome the Bill and most Members are welcoming the Bill and most of the provisions the Minister is addressing. I thank the Minister for that and I look forward to seeing the amendments when they come before us and when they go to the Dáil and come back to us.