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The Bill will do little to speed up
major projects, but will instead dramatically curtail the public's
participation in the planning process.
Green Party Environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said that,
"This Bill is an attack on local democracy, and will do little or
nothing to speed up the planning process. The main planning delays
to major projects are due to High Court challenges and poor quality
applications in the first instance. The Bill does nothing to remedy
these failings.
"The Bill will allow controversial developments such as gas
refineries, port land reclamation and incinerators to bypass local
government. The views of local authority staff, councillors and the
public will be sidelined.
"With the publication of this Bill the Government is effectively
ignoring the Aarhus Convention, an international agreement which it
signed in 1998. That Convention aims to enhance public participation
in decision-making. Under European Directives the Convention should
have been transposed into Irish law by last January.
"This Bill goes in the opposite direction to the undertakings given
under that Convention, as it limits the public's ability to
participate in planning decisions.
"It gives An Bord Pleanála a consultation role whereby it can engage
in consultation with prospective applicants. Such a close
relationship with developers will compromise the Board's
quasi-judicial role, as the public will be excluded from this
process. It will be difficult for the public to make their views
known to the Board as developers will surely employ legal experts to
represent their views, and those resources are not available to most
of the public.
"The publication of this Bill shows that this Government and the
current Minister for the Environment Dick Roche are closer to their
friends in the building industry than to the needs of ordinary
communities.
"The Government has sidestepped the controversial Ringsend
incinerator by its announcement in the Dáil this morning that it
would not be included under the Bill, as the project is already
underway. However I have no doubt that pandering to the needs of
Minister McDowell will come back to haunt this Government, as
communities elsewhere will discover that their rights to participate
in planning decisions have been greatly reduced by the Bill.
"A better way of addressing planning delays would be to set up a
special division of the High Court to address planning cases, and
give more resources to the roll-out of the National Spatial Strategy
which is operating on a shoestring budget within the Department of
the Environment," concluded Deputy Cuffe.
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