The Gazette 1967/71

appeal must the Department of Local Government within the period of one month, be ginning on the day on which you receive notifi cation of the planning authority's decision. In the same way, you can appeal within a month if the planning authority have refused permission. The letter of appeal should be addressed to the Minister for Local Government, Custom House, Dublin, and and should state your reasons for the appeal. If the local authority decide to grant your per mission, remember that other people can appeal against that decision—for instance, a neighbour may appeal on the grounds that the development you propose would adversely affect his property. Where such an appeal is made, it has to be deter mined by the Minister and you cannot start work unless and until the Minister decides to reject the appeal and to grant the permission or approval you have sought. If there is no appeal against a decision to grant permission, the actual grant of permission will be issued by the planning authority as soon as possible after the expiration of the appeal period, that is, one month. Until you receive this document, the development is not authorised and work cannot be commenced. If you buy a house on an estate If you are buying a house on an estate developed by a building firm, planning permission will al ready have been obtained by the developers and you will not have to seek permission yourself. Nevertheless, in your own interests, you should find out the terms of the planning permission granted and that adequate guarantees exist for the satisfactory completion of the estate in accordance with the plans. The problem of "unfinished" hous ing estates has arisen partly because house-pur chasers failed to satisfy themselves that the de veloper was legally committed to complete the development properly. While the Planning Act of 1963 conferred strong powers on planning auth orities to see that housing estates are properly completed in the future, you are still responsible for satisfying yourself in advance that the estate developer has assumed clear responsibility for the proper completion of the estate and that he can, if necessary, be forced to complete it. If you want to reconstruct or extend your house Reconstruction work is exempted from planning control where it does not materially alter the ap pearance of the house. The construction of a new extension to the rear of a house is also free from control, provided that the original floor area of reach

the house is not exceeded by more than 120 square feet or, in the case of a two-storey extension, 90 square feet on each floor and that the height of the house is not exceeded. Apart from these exemp tions, the reconstruction or extension of a house or any alteration which materially affects its ex ternal appearance is likely to be subject to plan ning control and permission must be obtained before work is put in hand. FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS The following address was delivered by Mr. Ercndan A. McGrath, solicitor, President of the Federation, at the annual general meeting of the Association which was held on the 30th April 1969 In a leading article in the Irish Times of the 14th April, in. the course of criticising the doctors in Killarney because of their alleged preoccupation with "remuneration discussions", it was said that : "Professional bodies are part of the country's elite. They have enjoyed the benefit of a prolonged education, which it might reasonably be thought, would confer on them an extra-sensitive social conscience", and the question was asked : "How conscious is our professional elite of the example which it can and ought to provide?" My reply is that the professions are alert to the new social dimensions which emphasise their functions as social institutions which can and ought to make an effective contribution, to the community wel fare. The consciousness of this obligation was one of the prime reasons for establishing the Feder ation. The first object in its constitution reads : "To promote and advance the contribution of professional organisations to the welfare of the community". To give intellectual assent to a proposition is, however, no guarantee of its achievement. I have on other occasions stressed the necessity for each of the professions to do an act of self-searching as to the adequacy of their performance. It is well to bear in mind that we can be lamentably poor in seeing the broad social significance of our own work. This may, perhaps, be attributable to the old and narrow attitude which measured duty by the interest of the individual to whom service was rendered, and by that alone. There is, however, a larger zone in which the professional must be seen as the creator of values. Service of the public interest is not merely mechanical, it is also creative. Examples can be seen in the field of public health 22