The government and State-funded NGO An Taisce are actively making it harder for people to live and have families in rural Ireland, the Dáil has heard in a heated exchange between the Rural Independents and Government TDs.
Leader of the Rural Independent Group, Deputy Mattie McGrath, was speaking as he introduced legislation to curtail the ability of An Taisce to make submissions on planning applications.
The Tipperary TD has accused An Taisce – the National Trust for Ireland – of blocking rural development. The proposed law, debated on Tuesday, would remove An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, as a “prescribed authority” in planning legislation under the Planning and Development Acts.
The NGO, which is funded by the State, has made submissions on planning applications which have delayed essential housing, job creation initiatives, planning applications, and agricultural advancements, the TD says. The Rural TD previously cited the organisation’s challenge to the Glanbia cheese plant in Kilkenny as an example. An Taisce had brought a legal appeal against the granting of planning permission for the €140 million cheese plant.
Whilst An Bord Pleanála ultimately upheld the decision to grant planning permission, the plant has yet to get permission with An Taisce moving to take the matter through the courts.
However, McGrath said that the organisation had become “such a sacred cow that we cannot even ask to amend it.” He claimed that the Rural Independent Group had previously written to An Taisce seeking a meeting. However, he said it “dictated the terms of the meeting” and “wanted to chair the meeting and control us.”
The TD previously claimed that An Taisce “has consistently used its privileged status to obstruct vital rural development projects.” Himself and colleagues in the Rural Independents say the Planning and Development (An Taisce) Bill 2024 “is about empowering our rural communities and making it easier for people to build homes and create jobs without unnecessary interference.”
“It is unaccountable and not answerable to anyone. Some of the members of An Taisce are then moved on to An Bord Pleanála. As has been said already, are members of An Bord Pleanála also members, or former members, of An Taisce? That all has to be clarified,” McGrath said this week.
“An Taisce is 60 years a-growing and it can do what it likes. Is that what the Green Party wants? No wonder the country is in the mess it is, especially with Green Party TDs inside the Chamber, although they will not be here much longer, except for maybe two or three of them who might be back,” Deputy McGrath continued.
“The people will have the final say in that regard, and congratulations to anyone who comes back. The damage the Green Party did between 2007 to 2011 is still being rigged in rural Ireland. It did serious damage and did not allow the planning guidelines to be published,” the Deputy claimed.
Referring to the ongoing housing crisis, McGrath continued: “What else will Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael say when they go to the doors of the people of rural Ireland, who cannot build a henhouse, a house for their children or a farm development? Fianna Fáil will blame the Greens and Fine Gael will blame Fianna Fáil for the damage they have done, but the people are sick and tired of this.”
He went on to claim that for 60 years, An Taisce has existed “without any amendment, rain check or anything else” – leading for it to be “hijacked by cranks and by serial objectors with serious issues.”
Deputy McGrath said that himself and colleagues had a meeting with An Taisce officials regarding the proposed Glanbia cheese plant in County Kilkenny. He said the plant had been cleared for planning permission by the Environmental Protection Agency, and that there were “impeccable” records. In addition, the continental cheese plant received the green light from An Bord Pleanála.
However, Deputy McGrath added. “An Taisce told us, and in fact told the public, that it had no issues with the planning of the plant itself but had an issue with the cow herd numbers in the country. Just imagine the warped thinking such that it would object to a plant that would offer 250 top-quality jobs.
“While the objections were being lodged, and over the period of several court cases, milk was being transported up to Strathroy in Derry and back into Cork and other areas. There was no talk of the footprint of the trucks. The nonsense and abuse of power by An Taisce in that case alone were reprehensible, despicable and disgraceful.
“Even the then Taoiseach, who was sitting in the chair where the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is now sitting, called on An Taisce to stop its behaviour because he had no issue with the plant. Despite this, it was possible to hold it up. Is that a proper use of power? Of course, An Taisce has good uses but it needs to be straight and tell us who is on it. It is a secret society. It is like the Ku Klux Klan, like the Freemasons. We do not know who they are.”
The Rural Independent head said it was the case in Tipperary that locals who want to build houses are being faced with “objections, left right and centre,” and that the situation is “disgraceful.”
“This is far removed from what An Taisce was set up for. I am sure there were good reasons for setting it up in 1963 and 1964 but not for the way it is behaving now,” he said.
‘WE ARE REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE’
“We are here now and we are being called the far right and everything else, but we are representing the people. We are Teachtaí Dála na hÉireann, as Tiobraid Árann, Ciarraí, Luimneach, iarthar Chorcaí agus Uíbh Fhailí, and are entitled to represent the people. The problem here is that the Green Party is not representing the people; it is representing an elite group of its supporters. They will find out where they are when they go knocking on doors next week or in the couple of weeks to come.
“They are an elite group and they object to meaningful projects to allow social promotion and allow people to live and have families in rural Ireland. They are against everything in rural Ireland,” the TD said.
“The capital is choked up. Deputy Healy-Rae or somebody else mentioned the airports. Why do we have to have all the planes entering Dublin, a choked city? Why is Deputy Ó Cathasaigh not supporting Waterford Airport? Of course, Shannon and Cork airports are totally underutilised. The tail is wagging the dog. An Taisce comprises a group of well-heeled individuals who have a position of power. As I have said, they have important roles and they are very good at them, but they have widely abused their power and it is time they were reined in.”
McGrath further claimed that the backbenchers of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and other parties, including the Labour Party, do not have the power to tackle a “pernicious problem that is stopping people from getting houses for themselve”
“When we heard from Sinn Féin, it did not know whether it was for or against this legislation, but that is not unusual for it anymore. It does not know where it is; it is on a spinning top. Those opposed want to stop people from building houses on their own land in their own communities.”
The Independent politician told the House that he had met a farmer in Dundrum in recent weeks who had four children and a farm, but none of his children could secure planning permission to build on their own land.
“In the name of God, this is happening in a housing crisis with 15,000-plus homeless. Then the Government wants to bring everyone in from Timbuktu and all over the world and flood them into Ireland – bring them all in – with no healthcare, school places or anything for them. What has gone wrong with those opposite?” Deputy McGrath asked.
Fine Gael’s Alan Dillon joined a chorus of government TDs in opposing the Bill. The Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said that whilst the Private Members; Bill may be “well intentioned,” it proposes to amend the planning and development regulations by way of primary legislation.
This, he said, “is not the appropriate mechanism to amend any regulations,” adding: “An Taisce plays an important role in our planning system. Therefore, while the Bill may be well intentioned, the Government must oppose it.”
“The removal of An Taisce would be a retrograde step and cannot be supported,” he added.