asked the Minister for Local Government if there are any proposals by his Department for the preparation of a national physical plan; and, if not, why.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Physical Plan.
14.
The Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, did not provide for a statutory national physical plan. Physical planning was made the responsibility of local authorities and there are obvious advantages in that approach. Matters related to zoning, roads and traffic, urban renewal, sanitary services and preservation of amenities are the basic provisions of development plans and it is right that local populations and their elected representatives should be so involved in the planning process.
There are powers available to the Minister for Local Government to co-ordinate local plans but the necessity to invoke these powers formally has never arisen. Advice and guidance has been and continues to be available from my Department, An Foras Forbartha and other agencies, for example, in regard to regional planning, the national road network, coastline and industrial development. Experience has shown that policy on such matters can be incorporated into local development plans without undue difficulty. Direct co-operation between local authorities, participation in regional development organisations and close liaison with Government Departments and agencies have provided local coordination of development plans and ensured the incorporation in them of appropriate provisions designed to achieve objectives which are in the national interest.
Physical planning is a continuous process, as is the ongoing coordination of plans and their orientation to secure national development objectives. If the Deputy is thinking of something more, for example, "a national physical plan" which would tend to impose a fixed pattern of development on local and regional authorities, I would see no case for it. The preparation of such a "plan" would involve substantial allocation of staff and resources and efforts to secure implementation would merely stifle local and regional initiatives.
Would the Minister not agree that it would be desirable to have a national physical plan, if for no other reason than to enable the State to co-ordinate the plans made available by local authorities and by regional development organisations and that the State could then gauge the overall needs and requirements as regards housing, industry and schools? Is the Minister aware that it was necessary for Board Fáilte, in the absence of a national physical plan, to prepare a physical plan for the promotion of tourism? If you had a physical plan——
Order. That is a very long question, Deputy.
The Deputy is getting mixed up. As far as the question of a national physical plan is concerned, this would have nothing to do with the plan which Bord Fáilte are preparing. The Planning Bill which is in the Seanad and which we hope will very shortly be law, passed through this House after a very lengthy discussion. There was no suggestion like that made by the Deputy during the passage of the Bill, which would have been the appropriate time to have had this matter discussed. I do not think there would be any merit in it. It would simply be accepted as an effort to take away from local authorities their right to plan. Local authorities are well able to make their own plans and operate them. There has been co-operation between local authorities on matters affecting both sides of a border.
Is the Minister aware that the provision of a national physical plan would not take away from the powers of local authorities? It would provide the State with the means of assessing overall requirements as regards housing, schools, industry and roads. It would also enable the State to implement a costing system and would assist in the preparation of any plan.
Deputy O'Leary is talking about a suggestion which was made some time ago in regard to doing away with local authorities and replacing them with massive bodies which would be responsible to the Department of Local Government for doing jobs like this. I do not agree. Deputy O'Leary has one point of view and I have another. It does not appear that we are going to reach agreement here, a Cheann Comhairle, so I would suggest that there is no point in debating this matter further.
The Minister has a great capacity for putting words in other people's mouths.
I put the Deputy's words back in his mouth a few weeks ago.