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Pringle: Government railroading continues to show ‘shocking disregard’ for democratic process
- Updated: 13th July 2022
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said the Government’s railroading through of amendments to planning legislation shows “a shocking disregard for this House, the democratic process and the citizens of this country”.
Addressing the Dáil today, Deputy Pringle said: “It is shocking that we are at the stage now of having to move a motion to allow the Government to table the list of amendments that take over 50 pages on a bill that is going to be dealt with later on today.
“It’s mindboggling really when you say it like that. It really is shocking the contempt that the government has for this House,” he said.
Deputy Pringle said: “Some of these amendments have been around since last summer so there was plenty of time to move a bill, but do you want people to see what you’re at? I don’t think so. And that’s why these amendments are being pushed now, is because there will be no scrutiny because there just physically isn’t the time to have scrutiny of them.”
The deputy said: “It shows a shocking disregard for this House, the democratic process and the citizens of this country.”
The deputy was speaking on Instruction to Committee on the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 2022.
The deputy noted that the minister hadn’t even informed the House that one of the amendments would be withdrawn until the question was raised by another deputy.
Deputy Pringle said: “That says a lot about the process and about your view and your government’s view of the process,” adding, “and that’s really what is shocking here in relation to this legislation and it’s shocking in relation to the way that you view the whole thing”.
Referring to one of the amendments on judicial review, the deputy noted that in 2020, An Bord Pleanála decided 2,600 cases, with 83 cases – or 3 per cent – going to judicial review. The amendment would benefit those 3 per cent, he said.
Deputy Pringle said: “It would be very interesting to look at who those 3 per cent are. I’m sure they’re developers and they’re big-money developers”. He said: “That’s who your Department represents and who your government represents, because that’s the only people that benefit from this”.
The deputy said that if the three parties in the planning process, the developer, the planning authority and the community that will host the development, were treated equally and with respect, “Then you would get an awful lot more planning applications that would go through the process and go through the process with consent of the people as well, and that would do an awful lot more to streamline the planning acts and the planning process.
“But that’s not in you to do that and it’s not in the Government to do that because the Government represents private developers and represents money and that’s what you’re all about,” he said.
