MONAGHAN COUNCILLORS MAKE “MORE LOCAL POWERS” APPEAL AS NEW DEVELOPMENT BLUEPRINT ADOPTED

PETER HUGHES

Ireland operates to the same level of local democratic decision-making as applies in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, a special meeting of Monaghan Co Council was told on Monday. Fianna Fáil local public representative P J O’Hanlon made the declaration as the Council convened to formally adopt the 2025-2031 Monaghan Co Development Plan, bringing to an end a two- year process described by Senior Planner Adrian Hughes as being unprecedented in the level of engagement and input the plan had received from councillors.

The document sets out the planning rules and policy priorities that will govern how housing and all other forms of development takes place in the county over the next six years. The preparation and adoption of the plan is regarded as perhaps the most important duty that a local politician will be asked to perform in the course of a local authority term.

The plan was adopted unanimously, but with four material alterations voted through by the elected members against the recommendation of Chief Executive Robert Burns and the local authority planners (these are outlined in a separate report inside this week’s edition). But while there was unanimity on the key decision, the elected men and women used the meeting to register their objections to the tight controls exercised at Government Department level on how the plan can be shaped at local level.
The Office of the Planning Regulator came in for particular opprobrium from Sinn Féin’s Seán Conlon, who attributed Monaghan Town’s static population growth to the watchdog’s strictures. The need for more autonomy in decisions that directly affected development in the county was also forcefully argued by Councillor O’Hanlon…