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Planning Laws

  • 02-04-2004 8:31am
    #1
    arcadegame2004
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,406 ✭✭✭


    In the light of the scandals and allegations emanating from the Flood/Mahon Tribunal and media reports, do you feel that responsibility for planning-matters should be removed from local-councils and centralised in a nationwide body?

    Or should other reforms be undertaken to avoid history repeating itself in the "bribes for rezoning" mode? If so, then what sort of reforms have you in mind?

    I personally favour forcing political parties to accept all their donations in blind trusts whererby they wouldn't know from whom they are getting their contributions and as such would be less likely to knowingly vote according to bribes.

    As an extra measure I would require a 2/3rds majority for re-zoning.

    What do you think?

    Should local-councils powers over planning be reduced? 7 votes

    Yes
    0% 0 votes
    No
    100% 7 votes


Comments

  • #2
    rde
    Closed Accounts Posts: 97 ✭✭rde


    At first glance, the blind trust seems a good idea, but I don't think it would work; it would remove all accountability from the system. Even if a limit were placed on individual donations, nothing would stop someone phoning a politician - we'll call him 'FF' - and saying "expect 50k to be added to the trust tomorrow". No-one would be able to trace this if it were truly blind, and with a limit there's be nothing to stop twenty-five individual donations of €2000 going into the pot.

    You've also got to remember that most of the problems arose not from party donations - though they were claimed to be such when details emerged - were in all probability bribes to individuals. Any limits on party donations would have no effect, except perhaps to force crooked politicians to come up with an alternative explanation. And I've no doubt they'd be able to do so.

    The two-thirds majority is a better idea, but overall I think the best route would be increasing Bord Pleanala's input. This would require a huge invenstment in that department, though, and I'm not sure it'd be worth the money.


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