Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, to the Seanad - we are sitting today in the Dáil Chamber and the Minister is well used to being here - and all the good work he is doing in his portfolio. It is a challenging portfolio at present where there are massive infrastructural projects ongoing. I certainly welcome the brave steps the Minister has taken with some very brave infrastructure projects.

One area the Minister alluded to was rural Ireland. It is something close to the Minister's heart which we have talked about on many occasions, and certainly close to my own and those of many of my constituents. It is okay to window dress and talk about the semantics. There are the development plan and the local and regional development plans and where they fall into place under the national framework. I have seen, while following events in counties Westmeath, Meath, Offaly and Longford where quite a lot of the local authorities are going through their development plans at present, that councillors make recommendations to the executive, the executive comes up with its plan and the councillors look to have certain parts of the plan varied. This falls in line with what they have been hearing from local people on the ground and their voters. Unfortunately, I have seen so far, particularly in Meath, Westmeath and Offaly, instances where the regulator has totally ignored what the councillors have said. That is not correct. That is not right. That is not fair. I have a serious issue with that. If the regulator thinks that in the middle of a housing crisis, he will merely roll in behind the executives and give them carte blanche, it will not happen without being aired anyway. I have a serious problem with that. There are many projects that would not be deemed to be worth looking at or implementing or which should not get a second hearing but there are many that would. These projects are not getting a fair hearing. I am aware of one case in County Westmeath where a chap is ready to develop a site. I am only talking about a small site in a town. It is a two-acre site. Three quarters of it is zoned and one quarter of it is not. The local authority has no space to allow any more zoning. The executive said it did not think it would be a correct decision. The councillors opted to vary it and put it into the plan but the regulator did not even consider it. There are simple cases such as that, which could be put into plans, even if they then would have to go back to councillors and the executive would have to work a bit harder with them by seeking a part in the same town to be taken out of the plan and that would not be built on over the next ten years. That is a simple thing that could be done to develop plans in local villages and towns. That would be a case of everybody - the people, the councillors and the regulator - working together. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be happening. There is far too much bureaucracy in the process at present.A tool that some of the executives use is to tell councillors that they do not have the expertise, perhaps, with regard to particular planning or whatever. If that is the case, why not provide the councillors with some expertise, be it town planners or engineers or even if they need some legal expertise in that respect? It is chastising them, more or less, instead of supporting them. They are there to do a job, so let us support them. That is not happening. It is a fundamental fault in our planning process. The councillors are there to be lobbied by the people and the voters. Then, when they make a decision, unelected representatives are telling them: "Sorry, guys, it is unfortunate, but that is the way it is. You do not have the expertise in that and our advice is such and such". Let the councillors get independent advice and see if that is the advice or if they are just telling them what they want to hear. We have serious problems. I am not being the devil's advocate. Our system is good. There has to be a process of checks and balances, but it is very much loaded in favour of unelected people at present. I believe the balance has tipped too far to the other direction. It is causing a problem. There are practical solutions to some of these questions. I am sure that are some proposals that are off the wall and nobody has a problem with them, but there are many practical ones that are not happening. In that regard, councillors should certainly be allowed to get some expertise.

There are two other matters, in brief. Urban and town renewals should be prioritised. I am aware different projects in Limerick and in other cities have been rolled out, but the scheme should be rolled out nationwide now. The other matter is planning permissions that run out in 2020 and 2021. They should be extended by at least two years because there has been very little development. It has been a stop-start timeframe. Even where people had timeframes, they should be extended by two years. These are all very practical solutions that might be a help.