Sir, – I sympathise with Michael McDowell's disappointment at the Office of the Planning Regulator's opposition to the proposed inclusion of limits on build-to-rent development in Dublin City Council's development plan due to its inconsistency with national ministerial guidelines ("Planning regulator makes a sham of local democracy", Opinion & Analysis,. May 4th).
However, we should not lose sight of the fact that the enforcement of national policies against the decisions of local authorities often has more positive consequences than in this case. For example, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council recently decided to effectively prohibit new housing in large sections of Killiney and Dalkey. The relevant Minister ordered this to be changed following a recommendation from the Office of the Planning Regulator.
Disagreement with the substance of the national policy guidelines enforced by the Office of the Planning Regulator and the Minister should not preclude some legitimate role for national policy direction in planning. Local governments legitimately bring the perspective of their constituents. The national government should be able to intervene in some cases to ensure that overarching objectives on housing can be achieved.
Mr McDowell’s criticism, therefore, goes too far in suggesting that national intervention makes Ireland’s “weak idea of local democracy into a complete sham”. Indeed, in reading his criticism of the “Custom House bureaucracy” and “unelected departmental officers” that he regards as responsible for these guidelines, one would be forgiven for thinking that these were something other than national policies approved by a Minister in a democratically elected Government. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER
McMAHON,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Michael McDowell’s article is quite an exercise in fulmination. Consider the list of targets: politicians of the far left, Marxists, Office of the Planning Regulator, Dublin City Council (“not fit for purpose”), the rest of Ireland’s system of local government (“needs radical reform”), the Custom House bureaucracy, unelected departmental officers. On his weekly soap box, he becomes so carried away that he confuses the role and responsibilities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with those of the Department of the Environment, mistakenly locating the latter in the Custom House (try Adelaide Road). A lot of huffing and puffing. – Yours, etc,
KEN MAWHINNEY,
Dublin 16.