I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response to all of those. In relation to amendment No. 1, I welcome that the Minister of State confirmed here today, which we would not had known before coming in here, that there will be a review of the structures and the governance around the OPR. That is important. That is an acknowledgement that there needs to be one. Certainly, it is a scoping exercise. Clearly, they will see what they find there. I welcome that. I am disappointed that the Minister of State c…

In relation to the subject of the chief planning officer, I thank the Minister of State for his considered approach. All we are attempting to do here is stimulate debate. It is important. We heard about the idea of a chief planning officer in the joint committee. Clearly, there are other issues to be considered. The Minister of State touched on the Local Government Act 2001. I understand and am sympathetic to that point. I am also conscious of the role of a chief executive in local authorities as set down in legisl…

I press it.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 30, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following: “ “Chief Planning Officer” who may also be referred to as Chief City Planning Officer or Chief County Planning Officer means the person appointed to each planning authority and for the Minister to issue guidance. This guidance shall define the role of the officer.”. In light of what the Minister of State said, I will withdraw amendment No. 3.

I move amendment No. 21: In page 44, to delete lines 26 to 39, to delete page 45, and in page 46 to delete lines 1 to 26, and substitute the following: “Exempted Development 9. (1) The following shall be exempted developments for the purposes of this Act— (a) development consisting of the use of any land for the purpose of agriculture and development consisting of the use for that purpose of any building occupied together with land so used; (b) development by the council of a county in its functional area, exclusiv…

I move amendment No. 22: In page 45, to delete lines 11 to 17.

I move amendment No. 24: In page 45, to delete line 39 and 40, and in page 46, to delete lines 1 to 10.

I want to deal with two amendments in this grouping, amendment No. 30 and amendment No. 44. Amendment No. 30 is a very long one so I will not read it all out. It is self-explanatory. I take it that everyone has read all of these amendments in great length. It goes on for many pages so I do not propose to read it out and cut in on any more time. This amendment deals with section 10 of the Bill, which is concerned with declarations on development and exempted development, and other areas. It states that only a "relev…

Hear, hear.

Senator Moynihan put it clearly that this is about the public having information. The public are the eyes, ears and watchdogs of development. Speaking as someone who was a councillor for many years, it was the public who brought planning issues to our attention for us to take to the planners. In many cases, people consistently went to their planning authorities but did not get any follow-up. I know this from personal experience, having been involved in various issues that needed to be challenged. There was a view t…

I move amendment No. 30: In page 46, to delete lines 27 to 39, to delete pages 47 to 55, and in page 56 to delete lines 1 to 7, and substitute the following: “Declaration on development, exempted development, etc. 10. (1) In this section— “relevant act or operation” means— (a) in relation to the making of a request by a person referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of “any person”, an act or operation carried out or proposed to be carried out on land owned by that person, (b) in relation to the making of a …

I move amendment No. 44: In page 56, to delete lines 28 to 30 and substitute the following: “(2) Subject to subsection (1) , a relevant declaration shall be admissible in evidence in any proceedings relating to the act, operation or change in use in respect of which the relevant declaration was made.”.

As the leader of the Independent Group in Seanad Éireann, I warmly welcome and congratulate Senator Bradley on her appointment. A great honour and privilege has been bestowed on her by the Taoiseach, which is his prerogative. All Senators are equal in this Chamber at all times. That is important. I do not give a lot of advice but I have loved every day since I came here eight years ago. I do not see myself as a politician; I see myself as an advocate. If any one of us, including Senator Bradley, can simply be an ad…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is a concise Bill. As he said, it is in seven sections. It is fair and balanced and has my full support. I apologise in advance; the Oireachtas audit committee is having an important meeting and I am a member of it so will have to leave. I flag now my full support for all sections of the Bill. There are a number of asks on our schedule today. One is to consider all Stages of this Bill, which has my full support. Immediately after this is a motion regarding the earl…

I would like to join with others in sending my condolences to Gerardine, John's wife, whom I met. I knew John well and I was thinking about John yesterday or the day before when the news broke. I travelled with him on the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, OSCE, trip and like so many journeys that many of us do through the course of work, you become quite close to people to whom you would not necessarily gravitate. We sat beside each other on the plane both ways, and indeed some here may very wel…

I wish to raise issues around agriculture. First and foremost, I congratulate the Minister for agriculture and the Irish farming association organisations – the IFA, the ICMSA, Macra na Feirme, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, ICOS, and a number of others – on the finalisation of the farm charter yesterday. It is a fundamental piece of work. The Minister also announced last night the appointment of the chair of the proposed monitoring committee. The farm c…

This is very progressive legislation, so I can confirm that I will be fully supporting all aspects of it. The rent-a-room scheme is clearly an issue in terms of medical card criteria. I would have some concerns about the scheme but this is not the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Someone rocked up recently and said to me "The person across the road can take €14,000 and a whole set of circumstances, and I'm not in the same position" but that is a matter for debate at another forum. We have to hav…

The Minister is very welcome. I genuinely thank him for coming to the House. It is not always possible for a Minister to do so, as he knows-----

I formally second the motion. I thank the Minister for coming because there are many demands on his time. I appreciate that. The Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024 has been proposed by the Independent Group. My colleague, Senator McDowell, has clearly laid out the parameters and objectives of what we are trying to achieve with it. It has ten sections and is generally pretty simple to understand and implement. Many Members of the Houses, by means of parliamentary questions and Commencement matters, have…

I call Senator Maria Byrne, who has six minutes.