Coalition accepts Mahon proposal for regulator

PLANNING:THE GOVERNMENT has accepted in principle a Mahon tribunal recommendation for the appointment of an independent planning regulator.

The regulator would assume powers held at present by the Minister for the Environment and would be charged with investigating systematic problems in the planning system.

However, the Government has rejected at least three other recommendations made by the tribunal in its report published last March, including a lowering of the level at which political donations must be disclosed and restrictions on people entitled to receive donations on behalf of a political party.

Tribunal recommendations for an overall limit on the total amount a person can donate, and or a requirement to disclose donations received before elections, are not supported by Government, which says merely they are under consideration.

Almost half of the 64 recommendations made by the tribunal have already been implemented or are in the process of being implemented, according to a report published by the Government yesterday.

It said 29 of the 64 recommendations made by the tribunal had been implemented, 14 would be implemented and 18 recommendations remained under consideration.

After the tribunal published its final report, the Government said it would analyse the recommendations and report to the Dáil on their implementation.

However, its decision to deal with the matter yesterday on the last sitting day before summer was heavily criticised by the Opposition.

Independent TD Catherine Murphy accused Ministers of trying to bury their response to the tribunal’s findings. She said it was unacceptable for the Government to deal with the report “at the 11th hour” before the summer recess.

All the tribunal’s recommendations should be implemented in full to prevent a repeat of the corruption which caused it to be set up, she said.

The tribunal recommended that the threshold over which donations should be disclosed should be reduced to €55 for individual candidates and €175 for parties.

However, the Government has refused to budge from its current proposals to reduce these limits to €600 and €1,500 respectively.

Among the three recommendations the Government will not be implementing is a call for an independent appointments board to choose members of the National Transport Authority.

It says it will make legal changes to provide for advance notice of material contravention of development plans and to restrict the power of local councillors to vote through section 140 planning changes.

A proposal by the tribunal to force developers to identify relevant political donations when applying for planning permission is under consideration but has been accepted in principle. The report says the practicalities would need to be very carefully worked through.

A number of recommendations relating to conflicts of interest have not been adopted by the Government, which says they are under consideration.

These include a broadening of the range of categories requiring disclosures of interest and changes to the conflict of interest provisions for ministers and other Dáil members.

The Government has agreed in principle to introduce measures regulating conflicts of interest arising from the use of inside information by ministers.

MAHON TRIBUNAL  RECOMMENDATIONS

Already implemented:ban on officials receiving gifts that might affect their work;

– change corruption legislation to cover Oireachtas members;

– introduce whistleblower legislation.

Will be implemented:

– transfer Minister for the Environment’s enforcement powers to independent regulator;

– restrict councillors’ power to rezone land;

– regulated conflicts of interest from use of inside information by Ministers.

Under consideration:

– requirement to identify political donations when applying for planning permission;

– overall limit on total amount a person can donate;

– changes to asset recovery from corrupt persons.

Won’t be implemented:

– lower level at which donations are disclosed;

– independent appointments board to choose members of National Transport Authority;

– restrictions on people entitled to receive donations for a political party.