Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will continue the conversation about how we support our local communities. This morning the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, launched a guide for inclusive community engagement in local planning and decision making. It is a good start to many things but I briefly glanced through the document and there is nothing compulsory in it. It is guidance. There is no financial support to local government and no training.

We have a legal responsibility under our public sector duty. It is in the Act that set up the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. We have responsibilities to enable our communities to rise. This is a good starting point, but we need to look at it and pull it apart to see how we can support it in a local community. If we do not engage with communities, including marginalised communities; if we do not have a full-time officer in our local governments working, listening and understanding what is going on; if people in the planning departments of our local authorities do not understand what accessible planning and development are, we will not get the answers. This is a lovely guide about engagement, but there is nothing statutory in it. There is no stipulation about how projects should be examined. No funding should be given to local government for projects that are not disability proofed or inclusivity proofed. No funding should be handed over to anyone for projects that are not inclusive.

I ask for a debate on integration with the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, as if we raise one community, we raise every community. It will cost less in the long run to be inclusive and will make a better stronger community. We need full-time workers in our local authorities. We need active engagement.