Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur don Taoiseach sa seomra deas nua, An Seanad, agus fáilte a chur don Bille seo, An Blascaod Mór.
I should like to say at the outset that my party support this Bill and we will do everything in our power to ensure that it becomes law as quickly as possible. I feel sure, from listening to other Members of the House, that all of us will give this Bill the very same support. The public, who will be able to watch the highlights of this discussion in the House today, might find it unusual that there is such a level of unanimity about a Bill before us. They can rest assured that such unanimity is the exception rather than the rule. There will be many occasions in the future, as there have been in the past, when we will find ourselves in sharp disagreement with the Government of the day. It is perhaps fitting that we should discuss and find agreement on a Bill which is designed to enhance our commitment to an important part of our heritage. The occasion on which we are gathered is just such an occasion. The room in which we are meeting, now magnificently restored, represents an important part of our political, social, historical and architectural heritage. It is a source of great pride that the magnificent restoration of this room and this portion of Leinster House was carried out entirely by the public service. Perhaps the next time Senators might be inclined to pass snide remarks about the Office of Public Works, or the public service generally, they might reflect on the tradition of quality and craftsmanship which they so brilliantly exemplified in this Chamber. I said at the outset that we welcomed this legislation and we will support it in principle. In a way it is overdue legislation. It was the leader of my own party, Deputy Dick Spring, a TD for the Kingdom, Tánaiste in the last Government, who initially welcomed the establishment of the Blasket Island foundation of which he is a patron. In a statement issued on 4 December 1986 Deputy Spring said:
This foundation and the work it is endeavouring to achieve is of vital importance as part of our heritage. In terms of architectural, archaeological, cultural, historical and literary importance of our nation the Blaskets are unparalleled.
He went on the express the hope that with the support of all other political parties, which has been referred to by the Taoiseach, the objectives of this foundation could be achieved. Those objectives as spelled out when the foundation was launched in the same month, December 1986, are basically as follows: (1) To properly protect the island by having it designated as a national historic park; (2) To restore in its original form the village on the island so that people can live in the houses and sample the way of life and way of survival of a time now gone; (3) To have an interpretative centre in Dunquin which will introduce visitors to the literature and culture of the islands, attract scholars and students and to provide safe and easy access to the island.
It can readily be seen that the powers in the Bill before us are essential to the achievement of these objectives. It is unarguable that these objectives are worthwhile. All Members in this House know how central a figure Peig Sayers is in our literary culture. For most of us she represents one of the great images of our childhood. The way of life that Peig Sayers represented is very much a part of all of us. To allow that memory, that integral part of our cultural heritage, to wither and die would be a disaster, indeed a tragedy.
This Bill is welcome too, for a different reason. It is a positive measure. Our culture and traditions form an essential and vital part of our overall environment, an environment which serves the needs of all our people, and it cannot be achieved without planning. The present system of planning in our society was established to minimise the private abuse and exploitation of physical environment. It cannot by its very nature and form of establishment positively ensure that the physical resources of the environment are managed and developed for the benefit of all the community. The absence of positive planning in our society has resulted in massive surburban sprawl around our major towns and cities with the consequent decline and running down of the inner city areas. This suburban sprawl is frequently ugly, badly serviced with community facilities, unevenly developed and totally without an efficient system of public transport. Dublin, Cork and Limerick have been especially badly effected by this form of planning.
The local authority of which I am a member have only one power through their development plans to determine where development should not take place. They have no power to ensure that development occurs in any given area in an orderly fashion. At the same time they are statutorily obliged to provide a range of services within their functional area. This results in the local authorities, acting on behalf of the community, being forced to respond to unco-ordinated and often contradictory proposals from private developers. The result is an uneven and unbalanced development in our environment. In addition, the scarce capital investment funds of the developer are frequently wasted through delays and duplication. Much of the development capital for urban expansion comes directly from the State and pension funds to which many employees contribute. In addition, the State and semi-State sector of the economy are the largest consumers of new office accommodation which is built within our society. Although the community provides the bulk of the capital used for urban development, either directly through the State or building societies and these pension funds, it has only a passive or negative role in physicial planning. This is not a healthy situation. It benefits the quick profit speculator at the expense of the development company or the house builder. Our population is currently growing faster than any other in Western Europe. In addition, we are still urbanising. Given this pressure of growth, the environment is now at risk from potential damaging development.
In addition, because of our social system and inadequate planning machinery, our community is at full risk from unscrupulous developers concerned only with exploiting community needs for their positive private gain. This type of planning determines not just the shape of our citizen towns, it also affects the development and protection of our heritage. To that extent part of the importance of this Bill lies in the fact that it sets out to achieve a number of positive objectives. Its aim is not to prevent things from happening but to make them happen. We believe in this type of model and if it were followed in relation to our planning system generally, the result would be a very positive one for the overall environment.
I must sound two notes of caution. The first concerns resources which have been referred to by Senator Manning. The powers in this Bill are not enough of themselves to generate the development of the Great Blasket Islands that we all want to see at a time when the principal feature of our public capital programme is cutback after cutback and when Office of Public Works projects all around the country are held up for lack of funds. I do not want to participate in an exercise that turns out to be frivolous and just a charade. We will expect to see development of this project; we will not be content simply to pass this Bill and then allow the whole idea to stagnate for lack of funds. I can assure the Taoiseach that my party leader will be keeping an active eye on him as he is, of course, positioned to do, being a Kerryman. We will in particular want to be assured that the foundation collects private money for the purposes of this development and that such private money will not mean that any control passes from the foundation itself. We want to see the island developed in the interests of all the people and not for any elitist reasons.
My second and final reservation concerns the possibility of the constitutional action which has been referred to. It is clear from a first reading of this Bill that the people who drafted it had the Constitution and its provisions relating to private property in the forefront of their minds. I hope that the phrase "in the interest of the common good" in the Bill will be what will finally determine the outcome of any court case. I suggest that the Seanad would recommend to the President before signing the Bill that he would submit it for opinion on its constitutionality.
It is worthy of note and praise that the Taoiseach has seen fit to bring this Bill to the House. We all know that he has more than a passing interest in the preservation and development of the Blaskets in the interests of the people. Perhaps the day will come when he will see his way to make a small gift to the foundation and put it in the position of being able to develop the island of Inishvickillane as a historical monument.
