Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to raise, on behalf of the Seanad, the proposal of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the planning process for strategic developments, specifically strategic housing developments. It has been reported, and I welcome the fact that the Minister has acknowledged through the proposal to undertake the review, that the strategic planning process is not working and has failed to result in a significant increase in the delivery of housing, which is adding enormous pressure to an already challenging housing crisis. The strategic housing process is essentially undemocratic in its nature.All of us in the House commend our local authorities regularly. They have robust planning processes. While the Minister's review is being conducted the strategic housing process should be paused. An Bord Pleanála should be instructed to not engage in further pre-planning discussions because at the moment there are no fewer than 26 strategic housing developments under active judicial review. That is 26 of the 50 that have been taken since 2018. Half of the board's budget is being spent on judicial reviews. It is a completely unproductive use of public money, time and resources and it is further challenging the Government's ability to respond to the housing crisis. I therefore ask the Leader to write to the Minister with responsibility for planning and ask him to come back to the House with an advisory on whether or not he can instruct An Bord Pleanála to stop engaging in pre-planning discussions on strategic housing developments, and to do that as soon as possible.