asked the Minister for Local Government if he will consider making adequate finances available to Dublin Corporation to meet any compensation awards which he might make under section 58 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Corporation Compensation Awards.
7.
Section 58 does not enable me to make awards but only to make orders so that claims may be made which would otherwise be precluded from compensation by the provisions of other sections of the Act.
With regard to the provision of finance to meet compensation claims arising as a result of operations under this or any other section of the Act, there are no funds at my disposal from which such provisions could be made.
Does the Minister appreciate that this may completely alter the attitude of local authorities to planning permission?
I do not see why it should.
If they see the rates are going up by 10/- in the £ it will.
They should take account of that in their development plan whether they administer it or not. It is inevitable that there will be expenses involved in taking certain decisions.
Inevitable expenses?
If compensation is payable that is something which should be taken into consideration.
Does that not bear out what I said? If it is taken into consideration the local authorities will have to say: "If we are to be responsible for this even though we should not be, we will not pay it."
Unquestionably they should be. They should take into account all the expenses of the matter including the question of costs.
I am afraid there will be a new attitude to this.
Question No. 8 postponed until Tuesday, 25th February, 1969.