Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachtaí faoi sin. Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom a rá arís go dtiocfaidh mé ar ais os comhair an choiste seo le leasú ar Chéim na Tuarascála chun athrú a dhéanamh ar phlean forbartha gach contae ach, go háirithe, na contaetha a bhfuil Gaeltachtaí ann agus do na hoileáin freisin. Cuirfidh mé síos leasuithe ar alt 69 ar Chéim na Tuarascála.

Maidir le leasú Uimh. 30, just to be very clear, dúirt mé cheana nach bhfuil mé ag glacadh aon leasú le bheith curtha síos sa mhír seo. Faoi leasú Uimh. 30, I just believe on that one that the definition simply is not clear enough. It would apply to areas outside Gaeltacht areas, as well, and that is no disrespect. Traditional Gaeltacht settlement patterns means clusters of individual houses on the same road. I genuinely believe that when we are insisting that local authorities must have a separate plan for the islands and for the Gaeltachts in their development plans, taking into account the very specific and different natures of those areas, one size does not fit all. Anyone who visits our Gaeltacht areas or, indeed, our islands will know that they are all different. One of the issues that I have come across concerns development plans and see what a settlement is, if one takes the islands for argument sake, even Inis Mór with Cill Rónáin would not be deemed a settlement in the county development plan. That is the type of thing I am certain we can address. The initiative has been welcomed by Comhdháil na nOileán. Beidh mé ag bualadh le Banú freisin Dé Luain seo chugainn agus le Conradh na Gaeilge freisin faoin sin. I understand everyone's interest in this here to make sure about cúrsaí teanga sa Ghaeltacht agus ba mhaith liom an teanga a spreagadh agus na daoine, mar a dúirt mé cheana, atá ina gcónaí sa Ghaeltacht i gcónaí a bheith in ann teach nua a fháil sa Ghaeltacht freisin but it is complicated. Some good changes were made in the 2012 Act and I think we can strengthen that here.

I could talk to every amendment. As I said at the start - I do not mean this to be difficult - but I can literally go through what I see and I refer to some of these amendments here. As best as possible, one can say they are specific groupings. I am quite happy to do that now to assist. I reiterate, regarding the amendments tabled, I am quite happy. We have discussed in general terms the thrust of the matter in respect of what is a settlement. Some very specific amendments have been tabled on night life and culture that Deputies are proposing to put in primary legislation as opposed to looking at guidelines and what then will be drawn from there. I think of what would happen in the future, were items like that, which are extremely prescriptive, to be put in the planning Bill. Were any changes needed in the future - because even with the very best of intentions as they are put forward, they might not work or they may have unintended consequences - then what you would be doing is coming into a future Dáil, Seanad and committee and being obliged to bring forward amendments.

As I said in my opening remarks, I would without question have liked the guidelines to have been done sooner. Bhí mé os comhair coiste na Gaeilge cheana agus tá eolas ag an Teachta Ó Snodaigh faoi sin. Táim i ndáiríre faoin bhfáth go gcaithfimid na treoirlínte nua a chur os comhair an phobail chun dul chun cinn a dhéanamh ar son ár ndaoine sa Ghaeltacht agus ar na hoileáin freisin. If the Chair wants, and it will take about five minutes, I can go through the first grouping,