Yesterday on the floor of the Dáil, I made reference to a media report on the death of a young woman sleeping rough in my constituency. Subsequently, the organisation that put the information in the public domain has withdrawn it, pending further investigation. As the Minister knows, the issue of the deaths of people experiencing homelessness is one I have been raising with him on a regular basis. I have always argued for the need for accurate and up-to-date information. I want to put on the record of the Dáil that…

I want record my extreme disappointment at what is essentially the cutting short of pre-legislative scrutiny of this significant legislation following the Minister’s decision to introduce the Bill in the Seanad. I do not accept that the emergency amendments which the Minister wants to bring forward had to be done in this way. They could have been attached to another Bill and I will speak to that in a moment. The really concerning thing is that the Minister asked for pre-legislative scrutiny. We were on schedule and…

I again put on record our party's strong opposition to these sections of the Bill, dealing with changes to An Bord Pleanála. One of the most significant proposals the Minister brought forward this week is not actually an emergency measure at all. I fully accept there is urgency regarding an interim chair. I would not have proposed the interim chair in the manner that the Minister has, but I accept that it is urgent. Amendment No. 1 relates to the Minister's changes to the appointment process of ordinary board membe…

The problem is that section 6 does not guarantee what the Minister has outlined. Section 6 would allow for that, but also allow for other options. That is our concern. I refer to the unanimously agreed committee pre-legislative scrutiny report. While our preference is for a reformed panel system, recommendation 10 in our report states that, should the legislation proceed with the ministerial committee system outlined in the general scheme, it should prescribe the organisation that may nominate members to the board'…

As I said earlier, our party has always said that we would look favourably on a proposal which was intended to and would have the effect of accelerating and increasing the delivery of social and affordable housing. However, I have to say that when media briefings about this particular amendment emerged, there was an awful lot of confusion . There was talk of changes to zoning, ministerial zoning powers and other such things. Thankfully, we got the amendments last Friday and the Minister's officials gave us a detail…

Come on.

If the Minister disowns his own office's media briefing so quickly, he will end up damaging his relationship-----

-----both with journalists and with his own staff, and that would be terrible for Government communications, although it might mean we would get the official communication rather than the confused briefings that often seem to come from his direction.

Let us be clear. Where a manager uses this process, Part 8 will be suspended. Nobody on this side of the House has suggested the Minister is suspending Part 8 in all circumstances. My understanding of Deputy Nash’s point was clear. Where a manager opts to use this provision, Part 8 will be suspended and the 20-week process dispensed with. Just so the Minister is clear, that is our understanding of what is on the table. Timber frame housing is not a modern method of construction. This is a notion that really bugs me…

We are terribly understanding.

I move amendment No. 17: In page 7, to delete lines 3 to 19 and substitute the following: “ “105A. (1) Where no chairperson stands appointed under section 105 the Government may, subject to subsections (2) and (3), appoint an interim chairperson for a period of not more than 6 months, from persons who— (a) are, or were formerly, established civil servants for the purposes of the Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005, established public servants in State agencies or employees of the Board, (b) who has been in s…

A Cheann Comhairle, may I-----

With your latitude, we will restrict ourselves to a brief single round.

You are obviously in a Christmas spirit. Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

This is a very important part of the Bill and we were very keen to get to have this brief discussion because it is a significant change to the Foreshore Act. It is important to remember that this legislation is about 90 years old, from 1933, and for all of those 90 years people were working on the basis of an understanding of the definition of the foreshore which, it subsequently transpires, is not completely articulated in the original legislation. I think the concern we have and want to express here is that, beca…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, after line 37, to insert the following: “ “exceptional circumstances” has the same meaning as it has in section 177(2) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended);”. Before the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, came into the Chamber, we had the conclusion of a debate on a very significant and complex piece of legislation. In marked contrast to this Bill, that piece of legislation went through all the Stages of the legislative process with adequate time for very seri…

That would be helpful. It would also be very helpful if the officials could share with the Oireachtas committee a response as to how they dealt with considerable legal concerns the OPLA had. I know the Minister of State does not have the legal advice because it is confidential to the committee but I am sure we can provide him with either a summary of it or, with the agreement of the committee, a copy of it, given that it is the Government. I think the committee would like to be reassured of that. I will make two po…

Yesterday, I had a phone conversation with an incredibly distraught family in County Kildare. Their son Wayne is sleeping tonight in a tent in County Meath. Wayne suffers from very extreme mental health challenges in his life and he has been homeless for about two years. Since I and my colleague Deputy O'Rourke have been working with this family, we have found that there is simply no emergency accommodation either in Meath or in Kildare that meets this very vulnerable man's needs. The real concern of the family is …

I thank the Minister of State for so ably filling in for his colleagues on such technical legislation. This Bill, despite its technical nature, is important. Since the water framework directive was introduced in 2000, there has been an obligation on this State to know something very simple, namely, how much water is extracted from our natural water sources at any given time across the country. Why is that important? If you do not know what is being abstracted, you cannot manage it. You cannot manage it to ensure th…

We are getting 45 minutes to consider amendments to a technical Bill. The Government often blames committees, arguing that it takes them too long to do pre-legislative scrutiny and that is why there is a rush at the end. Our detailed, considered report has been with the Government for two years, yet it is only now that we are getting to debate the Bill, with only a tiny amount of time provided to discuss what will no doubt be a significant number of amendments from a number of Opposition Deputies. I mean this with …