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

I would like to speak to amendment No. 201 in this group. Deputy Matthews is right that there is probably nobody, certainly in this room, let alone in the Oireachtas, who knows more about the national biodiversity action plan than the Minister of State. While he has not said "No" to the 36 amendments trying to promote and strength the biodiversity elements of this Bill, he has said a kind of soft "maybe", and, therefore, we will all be watching with great interest to see what comes from that. Amendment No. 201 seeks to add to the section of the Bill on the national planning policy statements. In that section, there is a list of issues that can be considered for the issuance of the national planning policy statements. The list is not exhaustive but by virtue of being in the list, it clearly indicates that those things are important or important enough to warrant a mention. The inclusion of protection, conservation or restoration of biodiversity would be crucial. There is something odd in the way in which the Bill's Office has worded or changed the wording of our amendment because my amendment was to come after subparagraph (o) not to replace it, which is the way it is worded here. Notwithstanding that, given that national planning statements are going to be the heavy-hand of central government stating which things are really important and what it wants to do them - and I am not against national planning statements so long as they are done in a democratic manner - this should be in the list. I see no reason this or a version of this should not be and I am interested in the Minister of State's views specifically on that.