Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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85. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for the commencement of section 212 of the Local Government Act 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18685/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans at this time to commence section 212 of the Local Government Act 2001 which deals with the holding of public local inquiries.

The establishment of public local inquiries is a legally complex matter, particularly with regard to how such inquiries would function in practice. Careful consideration would be needed regarding the powers of such inquiries to compel persons to appear before them, how the Constitutional rights of such persons could be protected and how they could seek to assert their rights through the Courts.

The potential costs of public local inquiries would also need very careful consideration and whether such an option would represent best value for money as a means for addressing issues of local concern.

It is also important to recognise that, in October 2011, a referendum was held on a proposed amendment to the Constitution that, if successful, would have granted full investigative powers to Oireachtas committees to hold full inquiries. This proposal was rejected by the electorate. Concerns raised at the time would also apply in the case of public local inquiries held by local authorities. It would not seem appropriate therefore to try to introduce public inquiries at the level of local government when these were rejected by the people at Oireachtas level.