2026-07-01

I thank the Minister of State for joining us. Let me be clear. I am not looking for the State to intervene when it comes to planning decisions. That is not our purpose in coming in here today. However, we are conscious that the senior members of Government have made observations publicly on issues in Dublin city centre, most pointedly the dereliction and vacancy. Deputy Ennis and I want to bring forward some very significant anomalies and contradictions in planning, particularly in the Dublin 7 area, that have an impact on local businesses. I want to focus on two businesses in particular, the Cowtown Market and the Stay With Us café in Dublin 7. Before they opened, their locations were the site of dumping and antisocial behaviour. They were places where the aesthetic quality left a lot to be desired. These businesses then invested in their community. One built a little café with wooden seats, where every morning in Phibsborough, you will see people going in, bringing their dogs and sitting there. It is a lovely little space, and it absolutely adds to the community. The Cowtown Café, just off Stoneybatter, also took a place that was previously the site of dumping and antisocial behaviour, and invested in it. It now has little café stalls and saunas there. Inexplicably, Dublin City Council has told them that they have to remove the infrastructure they have built, which has added to the community. I am dealing with issues in Dublin 7 where there is an absence of enforcement at very significant conservation buildings, yet these two businesses have been told they are outside the planning. As they have not met planning standards, the whole business has to go, rather than Dublin City Council simply working with them to help them get to the right side of planning. I am raising this to the Chamber with Deputy Ennis not because we want the Minister of State to intervene but to raise the issue and see what we can do to work better.

To follow on from Deputy Gary Gannon, the Cowtown Market is a space that is so much more than an outdoor food market. It is a space that was once a derelict site. We have seen serious levels of antisocial behaviour at that end of Prussia Street and the Stoneybatter area. It opened since Covid and has been thriving ever since. It creates local employment and has strengthened relationships with the local pub, the City Arms, and other local businesses like Tesco and the shops across the way. It has really brought life and vitality to that area. Dublin City Council wants to return that to a derelict site. It is a complete contradiction. It contradicts some of the work that Dublin City Council is trying to do around the city centre with regard to meanwhile use and everything else. Not only has this business strengthened local businesses but it has strengthened local community networks. It is complementing an already amazing community spirit in Stoneybatter. The Stay With Us café is a small local independent café that is not only very important and a community hub for the local community in Phibsborough but because there is also an emergency homeless hostel next door to it, it is a hub for the people living there. Both spaces are at risk of being lost. We are crying out for derelict spaces to be turned into community hubs. We are not asking the Minister of State to intervene. We are asking him to open up a dialogue with Dublin City Council, as we have also done. Again, these spaces are not only very important to local independent businesses but they are vital community hubs. We cannot lose them because they will fall back into dereliction, and we know what that dereliction brings. We are doing everything in our power to save these spaces. We are asking the same of the Minister of State.

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I congratulate Deputy Ennis on his recent election. What a day for his family, friends and supporters. It is an incredible achievement. It is great to see the two constituency TDs from the same party working so closely together. It is not that common, by the way. I am grateful that they have raised this issue. I appreciate that there is a sense of vibrancy in Stoneybatter. I am familiar with it. There are some great food locations and cafes, so I understand where the Deputies are coming from with this. The response that I am going to read out was drafted not knowing what angle the Deputies were coming from, but I might come back to it in the supplementary response. This gives me an opportunity to update Members on the current procedures governing planning application decisions in general, noting the restrictions on my ability to comment on individual planning decisions. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. I wish to explain at the outset that the role of Minister in relation to the planning system is primarily to provide a policy and legislative framework for the planning authorities, An Coimisiún Pleanála and the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, in performing their statutory planning functions. Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage shall not exercise any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála is or may be concerned. This means that the Minister is explicitly prevented from intervening in such cases, which is of utmost importance to maintain the independence of the planning authority or commission. In fairness, Deputy Gannon already alluded to how he was aware of that. All development proposals require planning permission, unless they are specifically exempted under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, or the supplementary Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended. Where any person is unsure if planning permission is required, they may seek a declaration from the relevant planning authority under section 5 of the 2000 Act as to whether their case "is or is not development or is or is not exempted development" within the meaning of the Act. When a person submits a planning application under section 34 of the 2000 Act, irrespective of whether the proposed development is located in an urban or rural location in any county, the relevant planning authority, in making its decision, shall have regard to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. It is a matter for the relevant planning authority to consider each application on a case-by-case basis and to decide, in accordance with the provisions contained in the legislation, whether to grant the permission, subject to or without conditions, or to refuse permission. Where an individual has participated in the planning process or is directly affected by a planning decision of a planning authority, they may lodge an appeal to the commission in accordance with section 37 of the 2000 Act. Furthermore, any person who has participated in the appeals process, or shows that they have sufficient interest, may seek a judicial review of the relevant decision of the commission. In addition to the appeals process, if any person has a planning issue that is systemic in nature, they can refer the matter to the OPR or a referral may be made to the Office of the Ombudsman if the issue relates to an individual matter, such as the way a local authority has carried out its administrative functions. The response goes on in the same vein. I take the Deputies’ point, and they will understand how limited the Department and, by extension, the Minister and I as a Minister of State in that Department are in relation to commenting on individual cases. The Deputies made a point about the standard application of enforcement across the city. That should be same when it comes to dereliction. I know that there are beautiful Georgian buildings on that side of the city and that Deputy Gannon has been raising the issue of dereliction for a long time. He may perceive that there has been a lack of attention to that issue and all of sudden there is attention on this particular issue that the Deputies are referring to. I take the Deputies’ point and I might come back to it in my supplementary response.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and his understanding of the situation. There is a frustration. We spend so much time talking vacancy and dereliction in Dublin Central that the potential for losing two businesses that have added to the vibrancy and improved the aesthetic quality is grating to the point that it is nonsensical. For a small independent cafe like Stay With Us, if it is to make an appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála, that is going to cost over €4,000. It is a small independent cafe that is being held to the same appeals standard as a large company. It just does not make sense. As a community that is trying desperately to add to its area, support our local independent businesses, and engage with the parts of the community that are really investing in improving Stoneybatter and Phibsborough, it is so frustrating that Dublin City Council can just tell people to take something down and then it is gone. We know what comes afterwards.

I thank the Minister of State. Consistency is key, and that is what is letting us down with our local authority in this instance. Communities do not expect every planning application to succeed, but they do expect consistency in how planning is enforced. We are not asking for weaker planning rules, but for a planning system that is proportionate, consistent and capable of recognising the wider public good when local people invest in their communities and turn once-derelict sites that were not only eyesores, but causing antisocial behaviour and other nefarious activities, into thriving local community hubs. It is hard to take.

Just to respond in general without commenting on specifics, we have to take a balanced view of this. There may be a business within an area, whether it is a cafe, a commercial enterprise or shop of some sort, that will have gone through the step-by-step planning process and been successful in getting its planning application approved. There may be a sense of unfairness if others do not go through that same process, if the Deputies know where I am coming from. That said, in my limited experience of Stoneybatter, it is obvious to someone like me that it is starting to rejuvenate itself in many ways. The Deputies live there and are aware of this day to day. There is a real sense of entrepreneurship and a growing association with it becoming a really good place to eat, with a lot of restaurants and cafes popping up. It is fair to say that there is an onus on the planning authority to take into consideration the direction of travel when an area within a city like Dublin is starting to reimagine or rejuvenate itself. Other than that, I cannot say much more, but I take the Deputies' point. We have a lot of work to do, certainly within my Department and section in terms of heritage funding, to ensure that we invest in the incredible built heritage in that part of the city. They are throughout the city, but particularly in that part of city there are some absolute gems that we have not invested in for far too long or perhaps paid enough attention to from an enforcement point of view to ensure that the owners of those properties are bringing them back to life and protecting them. That onus is on us, but there is also an onus on us to ensure that where rejuvenation is happening naturally, we support it rather than being a hindrance to it.