Mick Clifford: Rushed planning bill may cost us all

If all criticisms are correct then the new law will result in hold ups to housing and infrastructure, and mounting fees for solicitors

The bill is an attempt to consolidate Irish planning law into a single piece of legislation, and includes changes to An Bord Pleanála.

You don’t need Mark Ruffalo to know which way the wind is blowing. The Hollywood actor, best known for playing the Incredible Hulk, weighed into Irish planning law during the week. He admonished the Green party for voting for a planning bill that included the possibility of storing fracked gas at some unspecified point in the future. He wasn’t the only strange voice to give his tuppence worth about a pending law in which he has no expertise.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland posted a tweet opposing the Planning and Development Bill. The organisation mandated to support and research issues affecting women declared that the bill “threatens democracy, access to justice, climate justice & much more”. That is strange stuff coming from the NWCI, making it sound like a political opponent of the government rather than a non governmental body.