Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have concerns around An Bord Pleanála regarding some of the decisions in particular. There are instances of the board's inspector being overruled. While the board is entitled to do that, it is happening all too often. That raises significant questions. Regarding the ring road in particular, before a decision was made by the High Court, An Bord Pleanála conceded that it had not taken into consideration the climate action plan. It has specific obligations as a relevant body under the climate Act. It was aware of those obligations for some time before this decision was made. It is beyond time and it is correct that the Minister is taking urgent steps to reform An Bord Pleanála. In this way, the Minister is doing that in a number of ways such as increasing the size and ensuring that the quorum could not be reduced; they are worthy and important pieces of the legislation. It is also important to point out, which I think the Minister did in his speech, that there is no way we are not going to see EIAs completed; that is simply not correct. It is important that the public understands that.

People have concerns, one of which is that legislation could stop us from taking judicial reviews. It is important for the Minister to come back on that point because we want there to be no doubt but that we have the ability to take judicial reviews. As I have been forthright that I would back and support anybody who took a judicial review on the ring road in particular, I do not want to stand over that. We have urgent renewable energy targets that we must meet. In some instances, however, applications for foreshore licences are taking up to 20 months whereas in Britain, it takes 15 to 20 weeks. We are completely out of step and because of that, it means we cannot compete. It is a competition at the moment to get renewable energy companies investing in Ireland and off our shores. We can do all we like with the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, but if we cannot speed up the foreshore licence element, we will still be in difficulty. Therefore, it has to be done. There is a concern in the industry, of which I am sure the Minister is aware, that there also may be issues around the elements introducing this Act on the foreshore. Will the Minister comment now or on Thursday about the concerns expressed by the industry? We must ensure that we do all we can to protect the marine environment. I hope that is what this Bill will do. There are plenty of opportunities for the Minister's Department to look at it and come back with amendments; it is not going to be completed this week or by Christmas. It is going to go to the Dáil after Christmas. At that point, from what I understand, if what we are hearing is correct, there will be Government amendments in any case, which means there is an opportunity, if it is felt amendments are needed, for other amendments. If there are Government amendments, it will have to come back to the Seanad following that. Those are all the stages.

There were concerns around the speed of this going through. It was unfortunate that pre-legislative scrutiny was not completed until today or published until today. It is important to take the time now to make sure that everything that was submitted during the pre-legislative scrutiny stage is looked at properly by the Department. Fundamentally, however, we have to see these kinds of reforms, particularly in the make-up of An Bord Pleanála, if we are to see significant changes in how the board carries out its functions. It is not just about the delays, it is about decisions which are highly questionable, when the board itself admits it did not take into consideration key legislation and key elements of Government plans.