‘Fast’ planning a threat to health and democracy

THE 2006 Planning Act facilitating the fast-tracking of strategic infrastructure development should only be used with great discretion as it does not lead to open and transparent planning.

It is a way of speeding up developments like incinerators, wind farms, roads, etc, and it covers almost anything you want it to cover. That is the danger.

Apart from making suggestions, the public will not have a say as to whether or not certain projects will be located in their area.

For the residents of small towns like Tynagh in Co Galway, it means they have no say if an incinerator is to be built in their backyard. They have access to little or no information about the development at the site of the former Tynagh mines, near Loughrea, which could have an impact on the health of their children or livestock in this very environmentally sensitive area.

Their politicians will not be in a position to stop this type of development if it falls under the 2006 act. The balance between the rights of the individual and the national interest is not served by this type of legislation.

Was it in the national interest to leave the 300 acres at the former Tynagh mines polluted for years? I don’t think so. Can you blame the residents of Tynagh for their lack of trust when they are told that this new development will be safe?

When private companies become involved in government projects, as in public/private partnerships, the public need to have access to the names of the people involved in the companies taking part, as they do in the US.

This information should be in the public domain. How else can we be sure the developments under this fast-track legalisation are open and transparent?

Surely this sort of planning law bypasses democracy and is unconstitutional. It also makes Bord Pleanála redundant.

Private companies are answerable only to their shareholders and should never be in a position to use planning laws for their own gain. Projects undertaken in the national interest must be scrutinised not only by politicians but by the taxpayers.

Cases in point are the M3 through the Tara/Skryne valley and Ceannt rail station in Galway.

Nuala Nolan

I24 Bowling Green

Galway