Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for bringing forward this important legislation, which Fianna Fáil will be supporting. I commend the Minister. Taking office in a pandemic is not a light undertaking for anybody but since he took office and having responsibility for housing, local government, local authorities, heritage and planning, he has demonstrated great insight and understanding into those matters, as well as commitment to supporting and strengthening them.

This is another example of the Minister bringing forward a practical and pragmatic amendment to the legislation to support our local authorities, councillors and local representatives in every community around the country. The Minister's proposal in this amendment to the legislation to give local authority members the power to extend their work on their important development plans is welcome and we wholeheartedly support it. The front-line role which members of local authorities have embraced and championed throughout the pandemic for their local communities must be acknowledged, including how they have worked on behalf of their local businesses, residents and their community groups and voluntary organisations. All local authority members are to be commended on that, as are the Minister and his Department for the way in which they supported them practically and financially. The waiving of rates was a significant and important decision he made that enabled local authorities to respond on the ground and support local businesses and residents.

This Bill pertains to the development plans, which are very important pieces of work. Generally speaking, they take in the region of 18 months to two years for any local authority to complete. There are development plans in process throughout the country. The work commenced in 2020 in some local authorities and it will commence in others this year. It will go on until about 2025. The Minister is correct; during the pandemic we all had to restrict our movements and to reduce the volume of face-to-face work. That has restricted local participation and democracy, including the engaging by local residents and communities in the way they would wish with their development plans. These development plans will set the strategic planning objectives for cities and counties for the next five years, including how land will be used and how building and planning will be granted and guided. Therefore, it is greatly important that the Minister is taking action to increase democracy and democratic participation at a local level.

There is one issue I would like the Minister to consider, if he can. I welcome that he has given the authority to elected representatives to commence the request for an extension. However, as the Bill is currently drafted, it requires a 75% majority, which is a very high threshold. I know from my experience at a local authority, it was always difficult to achieve that. I ask the Minister to consider a simple majority. This is a simple, pragmatic, really important amending Bill that the Minister has brought forward. Let us make it a simple pragmatic action in each local authority chamber throughout the country. Let us make it a simple majority, if we can.

Another provision in the Bill is to extend the life of planning permissions that have been impacted by Covid. I know that the development and delivery of housing is the Minister’s number one priority. It is important that any planning application or planning permission that was granted but has been impacted by Covid is given the opportunity to be completed. Let us not add further burdens to the process. Everybody is working to ramp up and increase capacity and the delivery of homes. This is a practical amendment from the Minister, and we are happy to support it.

The disapplying of planning permission requirement on Ministers and Ministers of State who need to respond to accident and emergency situations is of great importance. Again, it is another pragmatic practical intervention on the part of the Minister. I commend him on this Bill and we wholeheartedly support it.