Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I might just come in, with the indulgence of Deputy Matthews. It is remarkable that we are talking about assuming one formulation of words is equal to or stronger than another. This is the legislation that is meant to be underpinning our planning system. One of the reasons this legislation is being produced is that years of amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000 have created confusion. That confusion has created conflict between different players in our planning system. That has ended up in court with enormous amounts of litigation regarding wind farms, residential developments etc. I would have thought if this legislation is not just produced by the officials here but run through the Attorney General's office, we would have something a little more than a Minister of State - with the greatest due respect to the Minister of State - saying, "I would assume that". Either they are the same and have no legislative difference in terms of language, which is one answer, or there is a difference and one is stronger than the other.

It is not unreasonable for the proposer, or indeed any of us, to have that clarity. Legislative language is very specific and prescriptive. Is it the same or is it different? If it is different, how different, and not, "Is that the Minister of State's assumption"? What is the advice from the legal experts who produced this stuff?