The regulator of planning and development will have “unchecked power” and “no accountability”, the Seanad heard on Monday as it debated the third largest piece of legislation in the history of the State.
Labour Senator Rebecca Moynihan said it was a “fundamental flaw” of the 747-page Planning and Development Bill that “there is no accountability and no responsibility” for the Office of the Planning Regulator in the legislation.
“The Bill has emerged out of controversies with An Bord Pleanála and alleged conflicts of interests and yet in it, the most powerful office that we are providing for, the Office of the Planning Regulator, is absolutely untouched,” she said.
Senators are debating 662 amendments to the Bill, which has 580 sections and aims to consolidate and revise the law and streamline the planning process. Provisions such as increasing the threshold and reducing the time permitted to bring certain judicial review challenges have been the subject of prolonged debate with concerns that it limits Oireachtas oversight of Government-approved planning statements.
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Ms Moynihan said there has been “a form of institutional capture” of the legislation by the Office of the Regulator as she called for the office to at the very least to have a board “like every other semi-State agency”.
“While An Bord Pleanála is having its name and functions changed, it is being split up into those who are looking after planning and those who are looking after the executive function. The planning regulator has unchecked power when it comes to interpretation of national plans and what is a plan-led approach.”
Independent Senator Michael McDowell claimed the regulator will “totally subvert the rights of local government”. In local authorities, he said, power is “hugely tilted” towards the executive management over elected members and the legislation is now “cementing in place this rigid regime of control over local authority members”.
Independent Senator Victor Boyhan called for a chief planning officer for each local authority. He said there are currently “a number of local authority directors of planning who are not planners and have no experience in planning” and this was “absurd”.
“We would not pick a director of finance for a local authority if he or she had no experience of finance” or a county architect or engineer,” he said.
Independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins said people may talk about councillors “as if they are the poor decision makers and this new national high level decision making body will fix things.
“Let us be clear that An Bord Pleanála is the body that has had scandals, arrests and prosecutions,” she said, adding that the lesson had not been learned because despite a “rebranding” the “same exact problems” remain under this legislation.
However, Minister of State for Housing Alan Dillon said the commentary on the regulator did not give an “accurate description” of its functions.
He said its role is to “ensure the implementation of planning policy and legislation by local authorities and An Bord Pleanála” and support Government policy and statutory requirements. He added that it “provides a fair and independent mechanism for the public to raise concerns”.
Green Party Senator Vincent Martin also defended the regulator and said the office was established “due to corruption in local government” and councillors zoning land in flood zones “against the expert wishes of the engineer planning experts”.
But Fianna Fáil Senator Pat Casey said this “might have happened in specific cases but it is not right to generalise” the way Mr Martin did about councillors and he could not agree with him.
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