Victor Boyham Pays Tribute, Criticises Planning Laws on Rotunda
Victor Boyham paid tribute to Lowry Butler and recalled his local roots and long public service. He also criticised recent planning decisions affecting the Rotunda Hospital — supporting the hospital's development but saying the Taoiseach was wrong and that legislation enabled the planning board to override its inspector.
Tribute to Lowry Butler
Boyham described Lowry Butler as a close colleague and mentor from their time on Dun Laoghaire and Dublin County Council. He recalled Butler's Kilkenny roots, burial in Tinnahinch by the Gregna Manor bridge, his early life as a lock keeper's son, time working in London construction, and his community and sporting involvement. Boyham offered sympathy to Butler's wife Kathleen and their children and said Butler loved serving in the Shannad.
Reaction to Irish Independent front page
Boyham addressed a front-page caption in the Irish Independent about a "Coalition to override planners and row over the Rotunda Hospital." He stated clearly his support for the Rotunda Hospital and its development plans but said he disagreed with the Taoiseach's claim that denial of permission was the wrong decision.
Planning process and the Rotunda
Boyham set out the sequence on file: an inspector and Dublin City Council recommended that planning permission be granted, the board reconsidered the matter de novo, and the board ultimately overrode the inspector. He said this outcome flowed from powers given to the board under planning legislation that was brought through these houses and guillotined at the time.
Accountability and consequences
Boyham blamed the current crisis on the legislative choices made in the houses and on his colleagues for not heeding warnings during the debate on the Planning and Development Bill. He warned that the planning process may have to start again, urged caution when agreeing planning legislation, and nevertheless wished the Rotunda Hospital success with its plans.
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On Shannadour, Victor Boyham. Thank you, Cahillac and Leader. Firstly, I want to pay tribute to Lowry Butler and myself. He was a man that I knew well. I served with him on the Council in Dun Laoghaire at Down County Council. He had served previous to that on Dublin County Council when it arched out into Dun Laoghaire before the merger. So I knew him to be a great character, that he certainly was, a great colleague, a great mentor. He was a man that believed in keeping himself feet on the ground and close contact with his constituents. And indeed, he went on, of course, to be elected to the Shannad. And he was a man that I worked closely with, collaborated with on the General Council of County Councilors, which was the former organisation before the AILG. I suppose you put it right, Cahillac, when you said his heart was in Kilkenny. He was unique in that he's buried in Tinnahinch, which is in County Carlow, and anyone who knows the beautiful Gregna Manor will know there is a bridge called the Tinnahinch and Gregna Manor Bridge. And so if you're on one side of the bridge, you're in Tinnahinch in County Carlow, and the other half of the bridge, you're in Gregna Manor in County Kilkenny. But there he was. He grew up. He was a son of a lock keeper. And, of course, he always went back there. He went to London. He was involved in the construction and building. He was a self-made man. He was an entrepreneur. He was everything in terms of being close with sport, with his community, and led from the front. So I just want to particularly pay tribute and to acknowledge this and give sympathy to Kathleen, his beloved wife, for many, many years, his children. They were exceptionally close, exceptionally proud of each other. And certainly he achieved a lot in his life. I think his greatest achievement, the cause, was he came in here to be in the Shannet. And he truly loved this place and the sense of awe that he got from it. So we remember him at this time. He was a great character and a close friend and confident of mine. In relation to one other item, which I have time to discuss, at the front of this morning's Irish Independent, there was a caption that says, Coalition to override planners and row over the Rotunda Hospital. The very outset, I want to say I support the Rotunda Hospital and its development plans. But in this article, in the Independent one page, it says that it quotes the Taoiseach in the Dáil as saying the denial of permission was the wrong decision. Well, I want to say I think the Taoiseach is wrong. Not because of the issue, but because we had a planning and development bill in here that was guillotined in both houses in the Dáil and in the Shannet, in which I raised the issue of on board Planola and the power of the board to override its own inspector. So we know from this article, but we also know from facts, having read the file today online, that the inspector recommended, Dublin City Council recommended planning permission. It then went to the board. They considered it anew, de novo. And it was considered again. Ultimately, the inspector, an inspector was appointed. He made a decision. He or she made the decision. And they recommended also that it be granted. But the board, because we in these houses of the Oroclus empowered them to do it, gave the board the power to override their own inspector. So where does the problem start? The problem starts that we in these houses, or some of us in these houses, didn't listen and respond to the debate at the time, and they allowed this to happen. So you can't retrospectively change planning. And there's a suggestion today that the board will go through a critical infrastructural process, which they may well do. But they'll have to start all over again. That's the planning process that they legislated for. And I'm usually taking issue with, and I'll finish on this, on Commission Planola. But I want to say in this case, they did nothing wrong. They operated within the law, within the constraints of the Planning and Development Act, as legislated for and provided for in these houses. So yes, we highlighted it. You didn't listen. The government didn't listen to the opposition at all. They didn't listen to the opposition at Shannon. And now we have a crisis. But we have a crisis of the government's own making. Nobody else. How and ever, and I finish, finally finish, I do wish the Rotunda Hospital every success in a plan. But if we have plans, and we have statute legislation in relation to planning and development, we need to think hard before we agree it. Because this is a result of legislation agreed by this government in these houses. Thank you. Thank you.
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