McLellan calls for primacy of local development plans
THE ministerial veto and other restrictions on the power of the proposed office of a Planning Regulator reduce it to a large extent to window dressing, Cork East Sinn Féin Deputy Sandra McLellan told the Dáil.
Speaking during a debate on a Private Member’s motion calling for the appointment of an Independent Regulator she said the failure to fully legislate on the basis of the Mahon Tribunal report recommendations will leave the country open to a repetition of irregularities that led to the Mahon tribunal itself.
“Unless there is proper scrutiny and scope for independent reviews of planning procedures, there will always be the opportunity for unscrupulous developers and land owners to seek to manipulate the system,” she said. “The consequences are poorly thought out schemes at the expense of house owners and the community in general.”
Deputy McLellan said Sinn Féin supports the primacy of local development plans. “We support the full involvement of local communities in the planning procedure,” she said. “We must ensure that developments do not go ahead that will ultimately have negative consequences. We have seen this all too often in the past and we have to ensure it does not continue into the future.”
The more democratic and transparent the planning system becomes, the less need there will be for a regulator, she said. Such an office would play a vital role in reviewing planning decisions where issues arise. “An independent regulator would also play a key role in investigating cases where there is a clear suspicion of irregularities,” she added. “To conclude, I ask that all sides support the Sinn Féin motion and revise the proposed restrictions on the planning regulator. That would make it truly independent, as recommended by Mahon and as supported by the vast majority of Members on this side of the House and, indeed, until quite recently by both Fine Gael and Labour.” THIS Government regards the Mahon Tribunal report as a fundamental point of departure from the inadequate standards of the past and the beginning of a new approach to planning in this country, Fine Gael Deputy Aine Collins told the Dáil.
Speaking during the same debate, she said the Minister is determined to continue to act on the findings and planning recommendations of the Mahon Tribunal and to ensure that our planning system is never again deflected from serving the common good by greed and shortsightedness but instead is designed and operated with the best interests of our country and people at its heart,” she said.
She said the Government believes that a properly functioning, effective, responsive, visionary, transparent and publicly accountable planning process is not only a fundamental requirement but a prerequisite for a modern successful economy like Ireland’s is today.
“It is committed to learning from past mistakes as well as building on the strengths of Ireland’s planning process in leading the way on its further development,” she said.
“The core function of the new regulator, which is being provided for in the planning and development (No. 2) Bill currently being prepared, will relate to the evaluation and assessment of local plans and regional strategies, including on land zonings, and to the making of recommendations to the Minister on these matters,” she said. “Where the Minister agrees with the recommendations of the Regulator the Minister will issue appropriate directions and instructions to the relevant local authority on the steps that should be taken over the revision of the relevant plan or strategy. Significantly, where the Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the Regulator, which he envisages will be a rare occurrence, the Minister will be required to explain the reasons for such disagreement, lay such reasons before the Houses of the Oireachtas and place them on the Department’s website, all in the interests of increased transparency.”
The Minister, she said and many Oireachtas Members, including herself, do not believe in replacing the democratic oversight and accountability of the policy-making process, currently held by the Minister, with an unelected official, namely, the Planning Regulator.
“It would be a step too far,” she said. “This is why the Minister must have the ultimate decision on powers of direction and local development plans adopted by locally elected members. The planning review report of June 2012 was assessed independently.”
The Sinn Féin motion was defeated by 62 votes to 40.