Yes.

Can I suggest that within the 75 minutes if the Minister of State needs a bit of time he takes it. Is that okay with the House?

I welcome the Minister to the House again. I join Senator Gallagher in commenting about the positive zeal and determination he has for his portfolio. He has clearly demonstrated that. My only fear is he will have got through the whole programme for Government in terms of his own portfolio by the end of the year, but that is a nice objective, a nice date and a nice timeline. I wish him well with all of that. I welcome Jason Poole and Joe Poole. I know it must be a very painful journey for them. It is great they are …

I support these amendments. They make common sense. I thank the Minister and his officials for coming to the House and for the work they have put into this legislation. Today we had great fanfare from the Government press office, with the Minister for housing announcing the housing infrastructure investment fund, HIIF. If there was ever a case to have housing as infrastructure, it was today with that announcement. Everyone in the Seanad seems to have circulated it to all 31 local authorities because I have seen ten…

I will just come back in to address Senator Byrne's contribution. I agree with all of it. I just wanted to come in before the Minister replies. The Senator was right to say that these issues, such as housing, transport and energy, could be "captured". That is correct. I am not advocating for anything parochial. That is right. The Minister has said that before. We cannot get into the minutiae, fine and granular issues, or parochial projects, although I do not mean to take away from the very significant damage caused…

We are dealing with amendments Nos. 2 to 4. I want to touch on amendment 4. That is a proposal by Senator Stephenson which states: The Minister shall lay a report before Dáil Éireann on the rationale, criteria, decision making process used to draft the designation order as soon as may be after it is made. I think there is merit in that. I do not know what the Minister is going to say to it. I think there is some merit. We talk about parliamentary oversight. I share the concerns about the pre-legislative scrutiny be…

I support this. Time limits are important. We just need to look at the children’s hospital to see what has gone on and on. I have no doubt it will go on and on more before the end of the year. It is about accountability and public money. Let us not fool ourselves. There is outrage among the general public about many projects - not all of them; some come in on budget and on time and that must always be acknowledged – due to the waste, the time lags, and the loose contracts and commitments about timelines for deliver…

This Commencement matter relates to the national planning statement and guidelines on designs for apartments. I welcome the Government's announcement last Tuesday that it would issue guidelines with a strategic environmental assessment, SEA, and the appropriate other issues attached to that in terms of the SEA report. I have looked at the submissions and am pleased to see that attached in the documents attached to the public consultation, we have the draft planning design standard amendments for the national planni…

I thank the Minister of State. None of that is new to me because it is all on the website today in relation to the public consultation. However it is good to have it on the record. The word I am taking away from the Minister of State’s contribution today is “precautionary”. We will see if it is precautionary when the courts make a final decision. I do not believe it is precautionary. I believe it was mandatory and required. I look forward to discussing it again when the decision is made but the line the Minister of…

I wish to indicate the concern of myself, my colleagues and, indeed, everyone in the Opposition about the growing practice of guillotining legislation. I do not want to make an issue of it today other than to flag it. We need to all sit down constructively. There is an Acting Leader in the Seanad currently. After that situation is resolved, there would be no harm every now and again in us all sitting down outside of this Chamber to share our concerns. I wish to flag a concern on behalf of my group's Members and all…

I welcome the Minister to the House. The code of practice, as the Minister is familiar with, is peppered right through this Bill, but I saw an opportunity in the amendment that has not been moved, and in section 3 where there are many references to the code of practice, so it is appropriate to bring it up at this point. As I said the last time the Minister was here in relation to this Bill, I support the Bill, but it is important to get some clarity on a number of issues. What was particularly interesting, and I dr…

I thank the Minister for the clarity which was exactly what I was looking for. We are clear now that this is a draft code of practice which is important. The Minister has set out his role as distinct from that of the Commissioner in preparing the draft. Ultimately, the Minister takes the hit and signs off on it, which is reassuring. It is important that it will come to both Houses for approval. I note what the Minister said about section 10, the new section 47A. I decided to take it early because I saw there was an…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. The proposal is a welcome move. I have considered all of his points, a few of which I will reference. He spoke about a public consultation, which is important. I wrote to his Department regarding modular units at the back of houses, a matter which went to a period of public consultation. That consultation has not been published on the Department's website. I had no support from the Department when I made inquiries on behalf of people who made submissions to the public …

I welcome the Government’s announcement that the draft national planning statement on design standards for apartments will now open to the public again. This is a new draft set of guidelines. I cautioned this many times. Members of the House should be aware that the current guidelines were the subject of a High Court action, which is not appropriate for me to go into other than to say they were referred by Mr. Justice Humphreys and are now before the European courts. Many developers and planners have raised concern…

The Minister who is to take the next Commencement matter is not here. We understand he is on his way. It is a last-minute changeover. I ask the Acting Leader to move a suspension of the House until 10.55 a.m.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the students and teachers from Leamlara national school, who are guests of Deputy James O'Connor. You are very welcome to the House. We are now engaging with Commencement matters, during which a number of topics are taken each day and relevant Ministers to those topics come in, so here we have the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. Enjoy your day. I thank the Minister for coming to the House.

I welcome the students, parents and supporters from the Skerries Educate Together national school who are in the Visitors Gallery. They are all very welcome to the House. I call the Minister of State.

I thank the Minister of State and the Senator.

Before I call the Minister of State, I welcome Deputy John Connolly and his guests from Galway. They are very welcome to the House.