Darragh O'Brien accuses opposition TDs of voting 'to not turn up for work' on planning bill

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said it was shameful that TDs were not willing to put in the extra hours necessary. Picture: Damien Storan

A row between the Government and the opposition on scrutinising a planning bill has escalated with Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien accusing opposition deputies of “shocking hypocrisy” and refusing to “show up and do the job they are elected to do”. 

Mr O’Brien has written to the chair of the housing and local government committee Stephen Matthews in response to a complaint from the opposition that the proposed schedule for the bill would “prevent proper scrutiny of a bill that will impact on the lives of millions for decades to come”.

The Planning and Development Bill 2023 is the first major law in planning in nearly 25 years, and is a centrepiece in the Government’s housing agenda.

The bill was repeatedly delayed last year, before finally being published in November. 

Mr O’Brien has expressed the hope that it becomes law by the summer.

Representatives from the four opposition parties made a complaint after a private session of the committee on Tuesday night which proposed to increase the number of meetings in the coming weeks for examining the bill. 

The committee had been meeting for 19 hours over three days a week and government members now want to increase this to 24 hours. 

The opposition parties claim that the longer hours, but over a short period, does not allow either the ministers or the members of the committee proper time to prepare and scrutinise the bill, which runs to over 700 pages and includes more than 1,100 amendments.

Committee member and Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has written to the Ceann Comhairle asking him to intervene in the dispute, saying that the proposed scheduling is “simply unworkable”.

The Planning and Development Bill 2023 is the first major law in planning in nearly 25 years, and is a centrepiece in the Government’s housing agenda.

As part of the protest over the scheduling, Sinn Féin withdrew Cork TD Thomas Gould from the committee, which means each vote will take an extra 10 minutes as all committee members won’t be present when the vote is called and time must be allowed for members to turn up. 

This shortened the time available for discussing the bill on Wednesday.

In his letter to the committee chair, Mr O’Brien said the fact that “opposition TDs have effectively voted to not turn up for work on a vital piece of legislation is flabbergasting in the context of a national housing crisis". 

He added that it is shameful that TDs were not willing to put in the extra hours necessary.

“It is all too clear from this action that our housing crisis exists only when it suits opposition narrative and not when there are solutions on the table,” the minister wrote.

“It is hypocritical for TDs to attack the Government for not doing more on housing only to refuse to do their own jobs in scrutinising and passing bills designed to address the housing crisis.”