I thank the Minister for coming into the House on this matter. I had a Priority Question down for answer last Tuesday but regrettably for a reason with which the House is familiar I was unable to be here. I appreciate the opportunity to explore this question now.
In my capacity as spokesman for the Environment with responsibility for the construction industry, I am aware of a growing problem in areas of economic growth in the construction industry that is being compounded by the delays in processing appeals in An Bord Pleanála. This is a problem within the direct control of the Minister and which can be resolved if the Minister is prepared to take effective action.
The manifesto on which the Government were elected proposed among other things that An Bord Pleanála "shall be required to decide on appeals within four months." The House will be aware that there is no fixed time limit within which An Bord Pleanála must respond to an appeal in contrast to the two month period which prevails with local authorities. The Fianna Fáil manifesto also stated that the period needed to make planning decisions should not be unnecessarily protracted and that delays in granting planning permission and decisions involving unnecessarily complicated conditions were a costly hindrance to development and often involved the postponement of desirable projects which had a high employment content. In the Programme for National Recovery which was negotiated with the social partners the Government said on page 23 at paragraph 25:
The construction industry will benefit from the recovery of demand from investment in the private sector. The Programme will improve the climate for private sector investment which will support the construction industry. The development of the Custom House Docks site which will commence shortly exemplifies this.
It has come to my attention from representations made to me by people who have suffered from long inexplicable delays, from documents published in the newspapers and by the CIF, the most recent one being in yesterday's Irish Times, that builders' costs have been increased due to the planning backlog. I will refer later to that interview given by Mr. Michael Greene one of the directors of the CIF which is headlined “Builders' Costs Increase Due to Planning Backlog.” These references indicate that there has been a recovery in demand in the construction industry over the last nine to 12 months due to a combination of factors including the reduction in interest rates, the existence of the designated areas and an improved economic climate world-wide as well as the fact that a lot of British financial institutions looking somewhat warily at their own overheated market in the UK are looking at an Irish construction market that for one reason or another has not had a lot of activity over the past five to six years. Fortunately for all concerned the industry is beginning to move again.
It is essential, if the Government are to give effect to their election manifesto, to the Programme for National Recovery and to the tone of the reply which the Minister gave to the priority question on Tuesday last, that certain steps be taken. The Minister should fix a time limit by regulation. My understanding is that existing legislation enables the Minister for the Environment to fix time limits for decision making in An Bord Pleanála, subject to certain safeguards. The right of a third party or a disappointed applicant to appeal a decision to An Bord Pleanála is sacrosanct and is not in question nor is the need to have that right properly guaranteed. However, the need for a concerned third party or a disappointed applicant to get a speedy and effective response to an application to An Bord Pleanála is extremely important. Because of staff levels in An Bord Pleanála at the moment decisions which might otherwise be made and transmitted to third parties are being delayed. The Minister in his reply last Tuesday said that certain steps had been taken and that he has asked An Bord Pleanála to improve their procedures internally. The Minister said in his reply:
Time targets set at my request by the Board in 1988 to reduce a backlog from 1987 have been met. In this regard comparison between the figures for 1987 and 1988 are significant. The overall volume of appeals received in 1988 at 2257 was somewhat less than the 1987 figure of 2439 while at the same time the actual number of appeals disposed of by the Board in 1988 was higher at 2369 than the 1987 figure of 2237.
The Minister's reply while factually accurate misses the intention of my question. We are not at the level of construction activity of 1987 or 1988. We have moved on from that for the reasons I have already referred to. There is now a serious delay within An Bord Pleanála. If, as that question and answer exchange implies there was a backlog in 1987 when the construction industry was still in a period of recession, then the present level of activity which by all accounts has increased considerably, means that if staff levels have not been adequately increased in the meantime the problem of the backlog and delay as described by Mr. Michael Greene in The Irish Times yesterday, is becoming more acute. Whatever explanation the Minister is getting from his officials and from An Bord Pleanála, I suggest that he contact and talk to various sectors of the construction industry — the professionals — the developers, CIF or the construction committee of the ICTU. In those areas where there is intensive economic activity, the experience on the ground is different from what the overall figures might suggest.
Let me go into this in some detail. In the Minister's reply the national figures quoted include appeals in relation to household extensions in any part of the country — which is clearly important to the person directly involved — and major development proposals in those parts of urban areas that have received designated status. It is my view — and I have experience at professional as well as political level — that not all of the local authorities in whose areas there are designated areas are facilitating planning applications or proposals. Naturally some local authorities are exemplary but others treat such applications for privately owned property in designated areas without any distinction to applications from any other part of their functional area. If the decision on the application is subsequently appealed to An Bord Pleanála there is no fast tracking available to ensure that the application will be processed effectively.
I am saying there is a contradiction in Government policy if a deliberate policy of reducing public expenditure was brought about to reduce interest rates and thus induce confidence which results in increased levels of construction investment. The increased investment manifests itself in increased applications for planning permission in designated areas and elsewhere, and at the end of this long process, which has been very painful because the health and education services paid for the creation of confidence by massive reductions in their own areas, it does not make sense and it is not smart management to have an administrative bottleneck within An Bord Pleanála.
The Minister could reply that my special plea for a fast track for the designated areas benefiting from tax incentives and other inducements, is discriminatory. I would agree and it is for that reason that I am asking him to introduce a fixed time limit for planning appeals and by way of regulation to set down very clear criteria as to the method of communication and the time limits for third party responses when providing additional information and so on.
In the relevant legislation passed by this House we have referred to vexatious appeals. However, I do not believe that that section has been adequately or courageously used by An Bord Pleanála. In fact, in some cases there have been vexatious refusals by the local authorities, but I know this is not covered by the planning legislation. In addition to dealing with An Bord Pleanála, I would ask the Minister to consider writing to local authorities and asking them to respond effectively and efficiently to planning development applications and where possible to give a constructive response, in other words, a permission with a series of conditions, rather than a refusal with a series of reasons.
Notwithstanding the overall merits of the development plan and the rights of the local authority to exercise it, if the Government are to reduce public expenditure and aim at creating a climate of investment geared, as is stated in their own manifesto and in the Programme for National Recovery, to get the construction industry moving again, it will create enormous frustration if they do not move to resolve what is now a planning backlog. This is not just my word, but the CIF which is not exactly a paid up member of the Labour Party——
