DAIL DEBATE

Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1983, Order 1999(Increase in number of ordinary members of An Bord Pleanála)

Take Number: O

Next Take Number: P

Forum

DÁIL ÉIREANN

Sitting Time

Sitting Date

12:40

24 June 1999

Mr. Kelleher: I welcome this motion which recognises that as a result of increased development in recent years, An Bord Pleanála is under-resourced to effectively assess and adjudicate on cases coming before it in a fair, impartial and speedy manner. The delays experienced in recent years are wholly unacceptable. We are now doing something to address the problem.

I would like to refer to the broader issue of planning. We now have a situation in which there is no accountability in the planning process due to a lack of input from elected representatives. Once a county development plan is passed, it is up to individual planners, county managers, inspectors and An Bord Pleanála to adjudicate on planning matters. When we talk about planning, we are talking about people's lives and communities. I am concerned that we do not have a consistent system in place throughout the country which allows communities to develop, particularly in rural areas.

We are trying to encourage people to settle in rural Ireland and halt depopulation along the western seaboard and other isolated parts of the country, yet, it is almost impossible for people who wish to move to those areas to acquire planning permission. We must consider this issue seriously. The opposite case applies on the eastern seaboard. The island is almost tipping into the Irish Sea because of the numbers moving into Dublin and larger urban areas, not purely to avail of the services which exist there but because they cannot obtain planning permission in the areas in which they would like to live.

With modern telecommunications systems, including the Internet, there is no reason many thousands currently working in Dublin and other large urban areas could not work from isolated rural areas if planning permission could be secured. Conditions in large urban areas are not conducive to rearing a family.

There is a lack of vision in the preparation of county development plans. The blame for this rests not only with the planners and management but with county councillors. As most of the land zoned for development has been developed, county councils have been asked to revise their county development plans. This should have been foreseen, given that everybody has been talking about escalating house prices for the past four or five years. We are now playing catch-up. The increase in the price of development land has been passed on to the purchaser. This is placing a heavy burden on families on average income.

We have a duty to indicate that the planning system is not proactive. The housing crisis will never be resolved if it is left to the unimaginative people who draft county development plans. Guidelines should be issued to planning officials to ensure a certain percentage of land is rezoned each year for residential development. This will enable us to plan ahead taking demographic changes into account. This should be seriously considered if we do not want to place a millstone around the necks of young people of house buying age who are paying inflated prices.

It appears that no one can change the system. If politicians try to be proactive, they are accused of interfering with the planning process and the rezoning of land for development. There are, however, tens of thousands on waiting lists while the cost of private housing has gone through the roof. This has a knock-on effect in increased social problems.

Legislation has been introduced to ensure crèches are run in a proper manner in a healthy environment for children. Because of this it is proving difficult to secure planning permission. Most applications have been turned down. This is creating a further problem. Those who want to place their children in child care facilities and take up employment to meet exorbitant house prices cannot do so because of the inability of the planning system to look ahead.

The legislation has to be looked at again. Parking is cited as a problem in most areas. Most parents, however, would like to be able to drop their children off at a crèche in their residential area. There is, therefore, a need for consistency. We have to ensure applicants will be able to secure planning permission in residential areas. There is a lack of imagination when it comes to architecture. Only buildings which date from the 1800s stand out. While I appreciate that finance is a factor, planning officers and departments do not encourage the submission of imaginative projects. Few buildings erected this century could be deemed to be imaginative and will not be described as such by tourists 100 years from now. This is embarrassing.