As Members are dealing with the Order of Business for today at present, I wish to address some concerns. I listened to my colleague, Senator Clonan, who expressed concern about an additional few minutes for statements on citizenship, a really important aspect of our work. I thank the Minister of State for making himself available. I know it is the Minister of State who is due here this afternoon, not the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, as were that the case, we might have a different scenario. However, we have to dea…

No. I suggest pragmatism and that the Deputy Leader reflect as to what is appropriate and have a chat with the Leader's office. I understand the dynamics. I am not 100% sure about the Minister's availability, but we are talking about five or ten minutes, not 30 minutes.

I appreciate that.

I wish the Taoiseach, and indeed the Minister, Deputy McEntee well in New York. I was thinking of that this morning and of the significance in terms of our migration and immigration policy, our history of forced emigration, how families were forced to leave here, and the reception they may have received in Liverpool, London, Boston, Manhattan or New York. Then I thought what a difference. We would have seen, or people would have known and reported sightings in London at guesthouses of certain signs. A father and hi…

I am pleased to see Senator Byrne in the Leader’s chair. I wish him well in that job. I also wish him well in his new position as Government Whip. There are three items I wish to discuss today. First is the exempt development regulations, which are being covered extensively in the media. We know the committee met last night to discuss these regulations and they are before the Dáil today. We expect they will be before the Seanad tomorrow. There is much talk about these exempt development regulations. They have gone …

I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry. It is an amazing Ministry and I acknowledge the significant work the former Ministers, Heather Humphreys and Michael Ring, did in this area. It is a very special Ministry. There is not a day that st…

I welcome the Canadian ambassador to the Upper House in this bicameral Parliament of ours. I particular welcome his delegation here. Canada is a beacon of light in many regards and the Irish people and Government very much value the very special relationship with Canada. I wish the delegation the very best of luck and every success in its visit to the Oireachtas. I will raise one issue with the Deputy Leader. We have exactly 949 city and county councillors in our country. Every week or two weeks I am up here on my …

I wish the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, well and wish him a speedy recovery. I thank him for his input on this work. He has championed rural communities. He represents a constituency that has both urban and rural areas. The significance of the post offices is known to us all. Any of us who has contacts with post offices, be they urban or rural, knows the importance of them. They are an important point of contact. Most people who run post offices have been long established there. Many of them run them in combination …

I welcome the Minister of State and his team of staff to the House. I will take up on some of the points that Senator Higgins has made. I want to touch on them. I am conscious we are under a lot of time pressure. We are in the last week before the summer recess. There is an eagerness to complete a number of pieces of legislation over the next two days. Mindful of all of that, we are talking about section 3, amendment No. 1 in the name of Senator Higgins, and she has touched on a few issues in relation to the vacant…

This is the first reference to the Planning Regulator so it is an opportune time to mention a few issues of concern in this area. I acknowledged during the last session when we were dealing with this Bill the important and significant work of the Planning Regulator. I acknowledge the Office of the Planning Regulator, rather than the individual, and its support for sitting county councillors. It runs many workshops of engagement, which is critical. I have said time and again that councillors are not engineers, plann…

No.

I will not come back in because it would not be appropriate. I will just say that I understood that it was already completed. In light of all these very intelligent Senators here making further contributions I am not suggesting it is to be tweaked further. I do not think so. I think we just need to get the Minister to publish it.

I wish to speak on the section. I am using this as an opportunity, as I did with the earlier section. This the first mention of An Coimisiún Pleanála and I want to use this as an opportunity to highlight a number of issues relating to An Coimisiún Pleanála. It has come along a pretty rocky road. The Minister of State and I know, as do a number of Senators who served, particularly Senator Flaherty, on the housing committee, about the long and protracted discussions we had about An Coimisiún Pleanála. There were a lo…

Yes, I have no problem with that. I have no problem with the amendment or the section.

If the House is satisfied, I am happy to proceed. I understand it and I am conscious of time. I just really wanted the Minister of State to take on board those concerns.

I thank the Minister of State.

This and the issue of judicial reviews are perhaps the two biggest and most difficult concerns in this legislation for me, as they were in 2024 but they have come into focus in this legislation. At the outset, I am conscious that sitting county councillors are the people who ultimately confirm or make a county or city development plan. The Minister of State is aware they put a lot of time into that. The proposal is to move this to a ten-year plan and I understand all of the processes. I am conscious that we are mak…

Senator Higgins has made an important point. I reiterate her concern regarding the Aarhus Convention, its protocols, the strategic environmental assessments and the other appropriate attached assessments. Somehow, when people are unhappy, they choose to ignore them. This really is an important issue. Ireland is a signatory to the convention and its protocols. We are bound by them. At all times, in our planning processes, protocols and code, we must encourage engagement. We must be a democracy open to genuine partic…

Listening to some of the contributions today on planning - I welcome that we will be discussing planning later with the Minister - I was reminded of a really good article published in The Irish Times during the week which had the subtitle, "Public participation and environmental scrutiny are not the enemies of progress [in the planning process]". I hope we will remember that today as we reflect on a number of issues. I wish to raise the issue of items Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, on the Order of Business. They all relat…

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I thank his officials for arranging a briefing earlier in the week. I found it exceptionally helpful, particularly the clarity. I thank them for the memo I received this morning in relation to the material contravention of the development plan and the importance of the clarity around what factors determined when a material contravention process was invoked in assessing and determining a planning application. That was questioned by An Coimisiún Pleanála. It was an i…