PLANNING SYSTEMS in Ireland have been ignored or seriously abused by elected representatives, property developers and, on occasion, by local authority officials. That abuse has not always involved the transfer of bribes in brown envelopes. Quite often, it consisted of caving in to commercial or political pressures. Sometimes, corners were cut in an attempt to generate local authority revenues. Favours were also done by individuals in the hope of a reciprocal gesture.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley is prohibited by law from involving himself in a review of specific planning decisions. That is as it should be. But, as Minister, he has a responsibility to promote good planning and transparent decision-making within local authorities. In the exercise of that function – following a broad range of complaints to his department from An Taisce, NGOs and members of the public – the Minister has written to the managers of six local authorities and invited them to respond in a detailed manner as to why certain decisions were taken. The material provided will be assessed by external experts in order to establish whether planning laws and guidelines were implemented in a consistent and transparent manner.
The Minister is clearly unhappy about the way in which the planning process was abused during the construction boom. And he is anxious that laws, regulations and audit procedures should be strengthened. The manner in which he approached that task, however, was poorly judged. The objective was perfectly reasonable. But by demanding reports from a small number of county and city managers in a welter of publicity a perception may have been created that their stewardship was at issue. The primary function of the investigation, however, was to examine the general efficacy of planning laws and to consider how they were applied in particular instances within local authorities.
During the boom years, councillors frequently rejected the advice of planning officials. Housing estates were built in inappropriate places. Managers were sidelined. And governments encouraged a frenzy in one-off housing that has scarred the countryside. Mr Gormley and the Green Party wish to change all that. But many of the councillors who facilitated the housing bust are still in place. The Minister has embarked on an exercise designed to justify the introduction of more rigorous and robust planning laws. In view of Fianna Fáil’s symbiotic relationship with the construction industry, Mr Gormley will need all the ammunition he can get.