Sir, – I note that the Attorney General Rossa Fanning, in welcoming the new planning Bill, mentions having an “honest conversation” regarding Irish planning law and housing supply (“Planning law must not frustrate housing objectives, Attorney General tells lawyers”, News, July 12th).
As he rightly states, we should not have to wait for several judicial reviews to take place before we can build a development. What he did not acknowledge is that nobody wants to waste their savings pursuing judicial review or the stress that goes with it. Is there not a better way of resolving planning conflicts, even before they morph into dispute? The Mediation Act 2017 established mediation into Irish law. Initially sceptical, the legal profession has now firmly embraced mediation which is now in the mainstream of legal practice.
Could we not have a mediated forum for developers and the affected community to resolve their differences or to agree to compromise producing solutions that everyone could live with? Reading the new planning Bill you will not find any reference to compromise, negotiation or mediation. In fact, the Bill anticipates nothing but dispute with all the stress and misery that comes with it. Even at this late stage could we not consider inserting mediation provisions into the Bill. – Yours, etc,
JOHN DEATON,
Dundrum,
Dublin 14.