Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I welcome the Minister to the House. We are discussing the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill 2022. I want to start by saying that it is somewhat disappointing. The Minister has acknowledged that we were not in a position to complete our pre-legislative scrutiny. It was only completed at 12 p.m. today. If we put that into context, the deadline for the submission of amendments to the Bill was 11 a.m. today, so it is very unsatisfactory. There have been a number of similar timelines with previous legislation. I recognise the importance of what has to be done in the legislation and the importance of addressing the issues around housing, homes, affordable housing and the Minister's brief.

At the outset I want to thank the staff of the secretariat of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, because they did a lot of work in preparation for this. There was some discussion and tidying up of amendments to the recommendations of the committee. I think the recommendations are strong ones. There might be one or two that are at odds with the Minister's proposals, but I would like to think he will consider them and perhaps bring amendments to the Bill later in the process. I thank the staff of the secretariat and the committee members for their constructive work on the Bill. I also acknowledge the important work of the Library and Research Service, which published a digest on the Bill and circulated it yesterday. That is important. The kernel of all of this is that pre-legislative scrutiny is important. It brings value to legislation. The Minister's party colleagues and his colleagues across the Houses are represented on the committee.

The Bill comprises 17 sections and three Parts. I want to focus on Part 2, which I have a particular interest in. First, I wish to state that confidence in An Bord Pleanála is waning fast. The Minister and I both know that. I put in a freedom of information request to An Bord Pleanála to check some facts once I realised there were issues with the board. I think everyone knew there were problems with the board. We must not forget that the Minister's party was a partner in the previous Government, although it was not a coalition government. The strategic housing developments, SHDs, were a challenge for the board. I was a member of the committee and I constantly raised the issue. Indeed, the Minister was a member of the committee for some of that time. We flagged that there was a problem with resources. The final SHDs are really only flushing through the system now. The large-scale developments are also placing huge pressures on the board. I wrote to the board. I will share the correspondence with the Minister later. I want to reference one letter dated 6 October 2021, addressed to "Dave". Dave happens to be Mr. Dave Walsh, the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála. The letter is one of a number I received. Clearly, there were tensions between the Minister's Department and the board on the appointment of staff. The chairman made cases for the recruitment of staff, and the Department's principal officers responded that there were serious concerns on the part of the Department in terms of legal and corporate services. The letter stated that the Department was also agreeable to an increase in resources to support the planning and the digitalisation that has been discussed. The letter went on to note that a sanction request form would need to be completed for each and every post filled by the board. That is all proper housekeeping and good governance. I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with that. However, I ask the Minister to look again at the blockages between his Department and the board, in terms of the frustrations that the board expressed about filling posts. I am happy to share the correspondence with the Minister in a constructive way. I do not think it is appropriate to keep reading into the context of it. The request is on the FOI register and I am happy to share it with the Minister. I acknowledge that there are some many good people in An Bord Pleanála, who do an exceptionally good job. I support the Minister's call for an interim chair to be appointed to the board. That is essential. We have to get on with it. I do not support the calls to abolish An Bord Pleanála, but I support the calls for reform. I think that is we where we can do something with it.

Clearly, the credibility of and confidence in An Bord Pleanála is at an all-time low. Much of that is due to its failure to deal with its applications in a timely manner and, more importantly, to explain in a open and transparent way the rationale of many of its appeal decisions. That is a matter of concern. The public at large are unable to understand why the decisions of An Bord Pleanála inspectors are overturned by the board. We have heard some suggestions - which are only suggestions, might I add - in the media of outcomes being manipulated. We have heard of frustration being expressed by members within An Bord Pleanála in the exercising of their functions. They are only allegations. At this point I want to make a request of the Minister. A number of inquiries and investigations were set in place. When it is appropriate to do so, the Minister should make a full statement on them. The public at large wants to know what is happening. We know there are ongoing investigations behind the scenes, and there is good reason for that. However, there is a need to instill in the public a sense of confidence in the independent planning board.

I also want to raise to the issue of panels. The Minister's colleague, and president of the Association of Irish Local Government, Councillor Pat Fitzpatrick from Kilkenny County Council, wrote to every member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage via email yesterday. He has made a request, which I think is a reasonable one. Indeed, I wrote to him last night to indicate that I would raise the matter here. The request is that the panels be retained. We need to reform the panel system. We discussed the matter at the committee meeting earlier. It is true that the panel system is not good enough, it has failed and it has shortcomings. We should look at reviewing the panel structures. I want to make a strong case today that local government has a role to play. Local authorities should not individually pick people, but they should have a consultative role and feed into some reformed panel system. As someone who is strongly committed to local government, I ask the Minister to look at that proposal or to come up with something more imaginative perhaps.

In principle, I support most of this legislation. We need a planning system that is open, transparent, honest and full of integrity. We want an appeals system that is fit for purpose and is resourced by the Minister and the Government. I note a substantial increase in funding has been provided in budget 2023, which is to be welcomed. We want to bring people into the planning process and to journey with the citizens. I am not in the business of excluding people from a process. The reality is that so many community groups have had to come together to raise funds to take judicial reviews. They are not bad people. They are making a case and have a right to do so. They have a right to an audience and to be heard. It is important that the message does not go out from the Minister, the Government or this House that in some way we are out to frustrate, block or stymy people in their participation in a public planning process. I would like to see language that talks about inclusiveness and enabling people to participate. People do not dip their hands into their pockets and hand their cash to a load of lawyers lightly.They had no option. That was partly because of the historical SHD system and no third-party appeals. I accept that we need reform, but we need to bring the community groups with us.

I acknowledge all those who made submissions to the pre-legislative scrutiny process, namely: Maria Graham and the staff at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; the Irish Environmental Network; the Irish Planning Institute; the Office of the Planning Regulator; the Marine Renewables Industry Association; An Taisce; the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland; and Coastwatch. They made submissions and came in good faith to engage in this process. I wish the Minister well with the Bill but let us not put up blocks or send out messages suggesting we are against citizens' participation in our planning process.