Planning and Development Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2020-12-02
============================================================

Eugene Murphy (FF), Agricultural Panel

I agree with much of what Senator Seery Kearney has said. This debate is important and it is very important that everybody states what they think of this Bill. If Members have doubts about certain sections of it, this is the way to have the debate but I do not agree with my good friends on the other side of the House. The provisions in this section will enable further engagement with the public. It will not remove engagement from the equation. Senators from Fine Gael, the Green Party and Fianna Fáil would not support anything like that.
I am no legal eagle but I would consider myself of at least average intelligence. Last night, I looked up the definition of the word "shall". This might give Members some solace if they have doubts. The definition of the word "shall" - and I am sure Senator Seery Kearney will know this - legally means something-----

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2020-12-02/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-12-02