Vol. 529 No. 1
793 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 308 of 8 November 2000, sanctions are to be imposed on local authorities where meetings about development plans were not held in public, or if held in committee, and the minutes were not made available to the public at the earliest possible date. [1261/01]
Since 1 January 2001 a planning authority must under the Planning Act, 2000, have regard to any relevant regional planning guidelines currently in force when making or adopting a development plan. My Department has written to all planning auth orities advising them of the importance that local authority meetings in relation to development plans or otherwise should be open and transparent; as was indicated in the reply to Question No. 308 of 8 November, 2000. As then indicated the general question of public access to local authority meetings and the right to meet in committee is being addressed by the Local Government Bill, 2000, and Second Stage will commence shortly. At present there is no specific provision in the local government code governing these matters nor is there provision for the imposition of sanctions in that regard.
