Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Having had the privilege of serving on the country's largest local authority from when I was first elected in 2004, I take a particular interest in this section. As Senator Moynihan said, the pains and frustrations of the planning system are ones I am all too familiar with. When we apply ourselves to the exercise we are engaged in, in scrutinising this legislation, we would be well served by restricting our considerations to the legislation in front of us, and not to stuff that has gone on in the past or stuff that may or may not happen in the future, and applying ourselves to trying to put in place the best legislation to achieve the best mechanism to deliver the best planning outcomes. When I look at this section and the section on development plans, we currently have six years and Senator Boyhan is suggesting seven years.

I am not sure what magically is going to happen in those 12 months given it takes most local authorities at least 24 months to complete their development plan review, composition and the making of it. I welcome the ten-year process. As somebody who has had the privilege of being part of making the development plan I know the effort that goes into it not just by the elected members, but also the executive and most importantly the public. Residents' associations, community groups, sports groups, businesses and all types of organisations engage in that process. Let us not forget what it is. It is a strategic plan. It is not an operational plan or an individual planning permission, but a strategic plan to give strategic guidance. With that strategic guidance in place a certain strategic certainty is created for a meaningful period of time. I welcome that.

I am absolutely determined to not just protect but enhance the role of elected members of our local authorities. I commend the improvements that have been made in the conditions of local authority members by this Government. They have been welcomed. Do they go far enough? No, of course they do not. The Minister of State knows this as he hears it from us often enough. We need to keep pushing in that direction. However, I am not going to bring amendments to a planning Bill to improve the powers or the capacities of local authority members because that would not be good practice. What this Bill does in section 58, as a really important amendment to the making of a development plan, is give the power to the local authority members at any point during the lifetime of the plan to trigger a variation to the plan. That is a really important power local authority members will have. It is important to read the full section 58. It states:

The members of a planning authority may at any time, by resolution request the chief executive of the planning authority to prepare a report on a proposal by them [not by anybody else, but by them] to initiate a process to consider the variation of the development plan for the time being in force.

It goes on to compel the chief executive to submit a report to the members within a specified period, namely, four weeks. The chief executive is going to have to come back to the elected members and respond to their request with a written report within four weeks. I am very conscious of the clock and I am not going to stand here talking all night and reading a document we can all read ourselves and that the public can read because it will be there for them to read. However, it very clearly sets out a process that puts the power into the hands of the local authority members at any point in the lifetime of the development plan to trigger a variation. It compels the chief executive to act on it and to do it all within specified periods of time. On that basis I am very happy to support this section and hope we can move on.