Dublin City Council last night voted down a motion from Independent councillor Gavin Pepper seeking to withdraw exemptions from planning permission from properties seeking to house asylum applicants.
The motion was heavily defeated, with just one other councillor, Ind Malachy Steeson, supporting the proposal which sought to scrap the ability of property owners to bypass the need to apply for planning permission if asylum accommodation was to be provided.
Legislation and changes to regulations introduced by then Ministers Darragh O’Brien and Roderic O’Gorman have proved controversial, with local communities protesting that asylum centres were being foisted on them without consultation or consent.
Proposing his motion, Cllr Pepper said that he was calling “on the Minister for Justice, Home affairs and Migration and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to withdraw all planning exemptions for properties accommodating International Protection applicants.”
“This is not just about planning, it’s about democracy,” he said. “Right now, government policy is facilitating uncontrolled migration through a system that bypasses the normal planning process and excludes local communities from decisions that directly affect them.”
“When contracts are signed in secret and buildings are repurposed without consultation, it sends a clear message that local voices don’t matter. That’s unacceptable. We are calling for a return to transparency and accountability,” he said.
“Every development should go through the proper planning channels and before any contract is signed, the Community Engagement Team must speak to the people, not after the fact, but before. This motion also aims to clear up the confusion we’ve seen in cases like the Clifton Court Hotel where developers and councils are unsure which regulations apply, whether exemptions are valid or whether proper notification was ever given. That kind of uncertainty undermines trust in the system and leaves communities in the dark,” Cllr Pepper said.
He pointed to “the lead of Kilkenny County Council, which unanimously passed a similar motion in July. Councillors there, all across party lines, agreed that the current exemption regime is unfair, weak and damaging to public confidence.”
Cllr Pepper said that “even an Tánaiste, Simon Harris, has acknowledged that these emergency planning measures should be phased out, adding that the lack of engagement with local communities was creating deep distrust, saying “it’s harming our political process, undermining public confidence and putting strain on communities who feel ignored and disrespected.”
“We must restore trust. We must ensure the planning laws apply equally to all, and we must demand that the democratic wishes of our communities are not overridden by bureaucratic shortcuts,” he told the Council chamber.
In response, Ind Cllr Cieran Perry said that he and others were proposing an amendment to Cllr Pepper’s motion which was supported by Sinn Feín, PBP, Soc Dems and Progressive Independents, seeking to substitute all exemptions for the “singular” exemption being sought by Cllr Pepper. He accused what he described as “the racist right” of providing cover for the government.
Green councillor, Donna Cooney, said she would oppose both the motion and the amendment because “we cannot get rid of all planning exemptions” because it would lead to “a big bad mess”.
However, Ind Cllr Malachy Steenson said that the planning exemption legislation in question was introduced “overnight” in order to facilitate office buildings and other properties being turned into asylum accommodation – which he said was a move made by a government that “can’t do anything overnight”.
He said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors had supported a similar motion in Kilkenny.
Cllr Steenson then said that the amended motion supported by Sinn Féin and other left wing councillors would prevent householders from building a small extension to their homes without planning permission.
Despite that, Daithí Doolan, a Sinn Féin councillor, said he was supporting the amendment which sought to scrap all exemptions, saying his party opposed attempts to undermine the planning process. He said Sinn Féin would not support any attempt to “ringfence” scrapping of planning exemptions.
The amendment proposed by Sinn Féin and other left-wing parties to Cllr Pepper’s motion was also defeated in the chamber last night, with 28 opposing and 21 voting in favour.
Cllr Pepper told Gript today that he was “very disappointed” that Dublin City Council had rejected a motion which sought to return “the right to object and the right to be heard to local communities.”
“These councillors are talking out of both sides of their mouths,” he said. “They don’t care about community engagement, their vote means that they support IPAS centres opening up without proper planning and behind closed doors.”
He said councillors “have tried to tell constituents that they want community engagement on asylum centres but this shows they don’t”, accusing them of “playing games with their voters”.
“I’m against illegal immigration and for local communities, and yet that’s depicted as being far-right, it’s ridiculous,” Cllr Pepper said.